AKA
by Volucris12
Summary: Watching Superman give lessons to her son, Lois Lane begins to suspect that he has a secret identity. Can Clark stop her from finding this identity? Does he want to stop her? Chapter 13 is up: Favours unexpected
1. Chapter 1: Like Father, Like Son

**AKA**

**Summary:**

Superman, being who he is, takes full responsibility for his new found son, Jason. The boy's mother, Lois Lane, being who she is, listens in on their meetings. What can she learn from the lessons Superman gives to her son, and who else is interested in the boy?

**A/N:**

Looking for a beta reader. Someone with good a grasp of words and plot, well versed in the DC world, and relatively quick. Will receive new chapters via e-mail before they are posted to the site, and check them for spelling, grammatical errors, plot holes, and plain stupidity. Will have the right to comment on how the story develops.

**A/N 2:**

Don't expect frequent instalments, as I have very little time to write. I apologise in advance. On the other hand, the story is complete in my head, so you don't have to worry about me writing myself into a corner.

**Chapter 1: Like Father, Like Son**

They sat on the floor in her living room, playing marbles. Superman's cape, which usually rippled behind him as he soared through the sky, was resting on the light brown tiles, not really touching them, as if hovering a fraction of an inch above them.

Jason was having fun. That much was obvious. His cheers where louder than ever, his eyes brighter, and his laughter came from a place deeper than Lois had ever seen before. A place that had been locked away before Superman came into his life. Superman, on the other hand, while enjoying the time with his son, had more important reasons to want to play with him. Jason was just beginning to be charged with strength far beyond those of mortal earth children, and he was having trouble controlling it. The strength came in sudden, unexpected bursts that had even less expected consequences. Even today, when Superman arrived, he found Lois clearing out small pieces of what used to be a beautiful coffee table, while Jason was cowering in the corner of the room terrified he would shatter anything else he touched.

Superman remembered that time during his own childhood. He hadn't let his parents hug him for nearly a year, afraid that he would crush them. At least this time Jason had one person he could hold without causing severe internal injuries.

The marbles were a good exercise of self-control. Jason had to use his strength with exact precision to get the marble close to the wall and win the game. Superman frowned as a blue marble smashed into a red one, shattering both. Of course, a few marbles would have to pay with their lives before the lesson is learned.

Superman walked to the wall, his steps hardly making a sound. Lois wondered if his feet even touched the ground. She couldn't be sure. He leaned to make a show of looking closer. Lois knew he didn't really have to bother. His sharp eyes could see all the pieces from where he had sat.

"Not bad," Superman said. "At lease one of the pieces landed right by the wall. Now try with the yellow one, only this time try to get it to reach the wall in one piece."

Jason was shivering. He was a smart boy, Lois knew. He understood exactly how dangerous his new power was.

"You don't have to be afraid," Superman said, his voice deep and calm. "The worst that can happen is that I'll need to get out and buy us some more marbles."

A yellow marble crashed into the wall, leaving a small dent at its bottom. Jason jumped up. "I don't want you to leave!" he exclaimed.

"Don't worry," Superman said. In an instant he was beside Jason, putting a soothing hand on his back. "We have still got plenty of marbles. By the time they are all gone you will be able to trust your strength like you trust a good friend."

Lois couldn't hold her journalistic curiosity any longer. "Is that how it was when you were growing up?" she asked.

Superman straightened up and looked into her eyes for a moment before answering. "Close," he said. "But I didn't know what to expect. At least Jason knows his powers can be controlled. I wasn't sure for a very long time." He smiled, his gaze distant. "I walked around with my eyes closed for three months after accidentally setting fire to my mother's favourite tapestry."

Jason looked up into the lucid blue eyes. "Why did you close your eyes?" he asked.

"Heat vision," both Superman and his mother answered together.

"Oh, no."

Superman's smile grew bigger. "You don't have to worry about that for a very long time," he said. "And by then we'll figure out a way to train your powers where there's nobody around."

"So no-one will get hurt?" Jason said.

"That, too. And also so that no one finds out about what you can do, if you ever want to lead a half normal life."

"So I can't tell anyone about what I can do?" Jason asked. He moved his gaze from the leftover wooden chips of the coffee table to the smashed marbles. "That would be difficult."

"It's very important," Superman said softly. "Not only for you, but for the safety of anyone close to you."

"Is that why I can't tell people that you're my father?" Jason asked.

"Yes. If people knew, you and your mother would be in grave danger. Any criminal who wanted to get to me would get to you, knowing I would do anything to protect you."

Jason puffed his small chest. "I can protect us."

"You will be able to, one day," Superman said. "But not yet. And not as Jason White. Never as Jason White."

Lois stood up. "Do _you_ have another name, when you're not wearing your tights and cape?"

Superman took a deep breath, letting in air that Lois knew he didn't need. "Let's just say that I know from experience that if Jason allows people to know who he really is, then he will never have a personal life."

"Do _you_ have a personal life?"

Superman smiled and tilted his head. Lois understood. She understood perfectly. He didn't want to lie to her, but he didn't want to tell her the truth either. And the truth was that he, in fact, had a personal life. Superman had another name he was using when he wanted to go out and walk among ordinary people without letting them know who he really was. She wondered how often he used this secret identity. Was it once a week, when he wanted to go to a quiet restaurant? Was it every day, when he went home to get some sleep? Was it more than that? After all, he could travel almost at the speed of light. He could save a school bus from an avalanche in Honduras one moment, and the next be at his New York office practicing – what? Law, maybe? He had a knack for truth, justice, all that. The revelation shocked her, but she sat down again, pretending to be disappointed.

Superman's face suddenly turned very serious. He seemed concentrated on something, obviously listening to something only he could hear.

"What is it?" Jason asked. Lois had noticed before that he was more aware of people around him than other boys. More aware than he should, at his tender age.

"An explosion," Superman said. "Very close to the gas reservoir. I should go. Will you be okay here in the mean time?"

Jason nodded.

Superman patted his head. "You're a good boy." And with that, he was off.

Lois contemplated for only a moment. The gas reservoir was less than fifteen minutes drive away from her house. She grabbed her bag and rushed to the door. "I'll call Mrs Henderson from the way and get to come sit with you while I'm gone," she called to Jason. "She'll be here in three minutes. In the mean time, don't open the door to anyone. Got that?"

Jason certainly got it. Spending the first five years of his life with two journalist parents, he was used to spending the evening with Mrs Henderson on a moment's notice. Hearing the key turn in the lock he took a broom and continued sweeping the floor at the point his mother had stopped when Superman had arrived. If Mrs Henderson was going to be here soon, there should be no sign of what he had done to the table or to the marbles. Superman said so, and Jason knew he must be right.

5


	2. Chapter 2: Pillars of Fire

**Chapter 2: Pillars of Fire**

It never occurred to Lois that driving to a burning gas reservoir could be dangerous. She wasn't a stupid woman, far from it. But she seriously lacked a sense of danger. Or sense, period, as she told herselff half an hour after leaving the house.

She found herself in the most natural position for her: between the flames and the huge gas tanks. And there wasn't much room between the two. Most of the gas was stored underground, she knew, and there were plenty of safety devices designed to prevent fire from spreading from one tank to the others, but if only one of these tanks combusted she was doomed, and so was a large chunk of suburban Metropolis. Whoever caused the initial explosion knew exactly where to hit to cause the most damage. She had to find out who it was. That was tomorrow's headlines.

Superman was there. Lois had seen the blue and red blur zipping through the sky even as she was nearing the fire. But the fire was too big for him to conquer alone. As far as Lois could tell, he was pouring huge water tanks onto the fire one after another, aiding the fire-fighting teams surrounding the area.

Lois scanned the skies, and found what she was looking for. Superman had just poured the water from what seemed to be a medium-sized swimming pool a hundred feet from where she was standing. She knew the way he acted. He would probably work from the centre of the incident outwards. The centre was probably where it all started. That was where she was headed.

Making her way around the hot flames, she found a wet path of singed trees. In tomorrow's article she should mention that it was a stupid idea to plant a grove next to inflammable substances. She wondered how many 'm's there were in 'inflammable'.

The path she chose wasn't as perfect as she had first thought. She had already discarded of her sweater, but she was hot. Extremely hot. Like standing too close to a large fire, which, actually, was exactly what she was doing. She tried to move forward, a little closer to the centre of events, but had to give up. Her face was burning up, and so were her feet. She looked down and realised she was walking on embers. She jumped sideways, only to realise there was no place clear of the embers around her. Her feet felt like they were on fire. She wanted to take off her shoes, but that was obviously not an option at the moment.

With a cry of frustration Lois turned backwards to track back her steps and find a better path. She could feel the story slipping from between her fingers. A moment later the story slightly less important than the new problem she was facing. The path she had taken earlier was gone.

Lois looked up to see Superman pouring more water further away from her, closer to the reservoir. A new path formed several feet away from her, but even at top speed she couldn't run several feet in the high flames without getting seriously burned. She thought of calling for his help, but he was away, probably ripping out someone's garden pool. She tried anyway, but the only thing that came out was a deep cough. Her lungs were filling with smoke, and so were her eyes. She could no longer see if he was around. In a matter of seconds, she couldn't even see the bright flames. It felt as if the smoke was filling her brain as well, and she knew she was falling…

--------------------------------------------------------

When Superman neared the scene of the explosion he knew he would not see Jason or Lois again tonight. The explosion had been much worse than he had expected when he had left their home. The fire was already soaring high, and it had spread over an area of a quarter mile in every direction.

Trying to put the flames out with his mighty breath was not an option. In an open area the wind would only feed the flames, spreading them closer to the edge of Metropolis suburbs. Closer to Lois and Jason. Superman knew that their house was much deeper into the city, but the thought of getting these flames even slightly closer to them frightened him.

The water tanks in the near area ran out quickly, and the flames were barely touched. At least he had stopped their spread towards the reservoir for the time being. Superman considered his options. He could not rip out the water towers, although they were admittedly very large, because the fire fighters were linked to them. He could dig a three-miles-long tunnel from the sea to the fire, but that would cause severe damages to roads, fields, and several houses. And a tunnel wide enough would take too long to dig.

Scanning the area, Superman realised that a lot of these suburban houses had swimming pools in their back yard. The kind of pools made of fibreglass and installed into a hole dug in the ground. He chose the largest one. It contained at least three times more water than the largest water tank he had used. It took him three seconds to calculate the exact angle in which to carry the pool at top speed so that the water wouldn't pour out, get it over the worst centre of the fire, and soar with the empty pool towards the sea, to refill it.

After six round trips with the swimming pool, combined with the efforts of the fire-fighters, Superman was beginning to see results. From his high point of view he could see the fire beginning to shrink. It was still very large but at least it was regressing. There were even a few patches of scorched ground here and there between the flames.

Emptying the pool for the seventh time, Superman quickly scanned the area to plan his rout for the next trip back from the see. Travelling at high speed with a pool full of water, he had to know exactly where he was headed, or the course change would cause all the water to be lost.

His eyes stopped on a car he had been too busy to notice before. It looked like Lois's car. In fact, adjusting his X-Ray vision to look into the car, it _was_ hers. He felt a surge of anger and guilt rise inside him. He should have known better than to tell Lois about the explosion. It should have been obvious to him that she would go after the story.

Another quick scan discovered Lois standing right in the middle of the flames. Not standing. She was falling sideways into the fire. Superman dropped the swimming pool over an open field and dove for her. He couldn't lift her up at this speed. It would save her from being burned, but would also break every bone in her body. He would threaten to break every bone in her body for pulling a stunt like this, but he would do it later on, when she was safe. Right now he needed to find a way to get her to safety.

Blowing on the fire would help spread it, but Superman was now willing to take the chance of helping the fire ever so slightly to save Lois. He blew just enough to make sure there were no flames around Lois, and then arrived just in time to lie on the red-hot ground and let her fall on top of him.

Superman considered leaving the fire to the fire-fighters and take the unconscious Lois to the hospital, but as he soared up with her in his arms he could see the results of his slight breath. The damage had been done. The flames were threatening the gas reservoir once more. The fire-fighters wouldn't be able to stop the spread without him.

As he descended towards one of the waiting ambulances, Superman scanned Lois with his X-Ray vision. It wasn't good. She was still breathing on her own, but only barely. She had inhaled large amounts of smoke, and had damaged her lungs. Not severely, but enough. Putting his mouth over hers he sucked out as much of the leftover smoke as he could without collapsing her lungs, and then breather cool, oxygen-rich air into her. His feet touched the ground next to the ambulance. He put an oxygen mask over Lois's face before speaking to any of the shocked paramedics.

"I found her in the middle of the fire," Superman said briefly, handing Lois to the nearest paramedic. "Her lungs have seven percent burns. She also has burns on her feet and on her left arm. See that she gets proper treatment."

To Superman's relief, the paramedic took less than a second to regain his composure. He adjusted the oxygen mask over Lois's face and as Superman soared away he could see him rushing to get cold compresses for the burns.

The swimming pool he had dropped was cracked beyond use. Superman reached for the second largest swimming pool and poured its content over the fire, too close to the reservoir for his taste. He estimated it would take at least thirty more full pools before the fire was under control, and wondered how he would be able to make all these round trips when he was so worried for Lois.

**A/N:** Thank you for taking the time to review! I really appreciate the effort. I've taken your comments into notice, and will make sure Jason appears here often (even though he wasn't in this chapter).

**A/N 2:** I've made an effort to get a chapter up quickly because I'll be away for several days. Third chapter is already with those who offered to beta. Majestrix –I'd love to have you as a beta, especially if you could find errors. However, I don't use IM, and won't let me see your email. If you're still interested, please mail me. Volucris12 at hotmail dot com.


	3. Chapter 3: Memories Lost

**Chapter 3: Memories Lost**

Superman was exhausted. It wasn't the carrying of hundreds of tons of water to a dangerous fire. He had done greater feats than that many times before, and wasn't half as tired. It was the fact that he had forgotten to breathe while carrying this water. He was too concerned about leaving Lois injured away from a hospital. But she wasn't seriously injured, and she was in good, capable hands. He reconsidered. It wasn't the distance from the hospital that made him anxious. It was the distance from him.

Dressed as Clark Kent he stepped into the hospital building. The smell of detergents brought back memories, both good and bad. This was where he had nearly lost his life two months before. This was also where he had learned of his son. The latter far overshadowed the former.

Clark could tell Lois was doing much better. Even from outside the building his sensitive ears – sensitive mostly to her voice, picked up Lois's ridiculous arguments that she was fine and could go home. Her voice was slightly hoarse, but less so than he had expected.

"How did you get here so fast?" Lois asked as soon as she saw Clark standing at the door to her room. "I've only been admitted half an hour ago."

"I was at the scene of the fire, interviewing eye witnesses," Clark said, seeming flustered. "They told me you were found injured, so I came here to see how you were doing."

Lois sat up straight, looking eager. "What did you find out?" she asked.

"Not much," Clark stammered. It was true. Usually he would use the time in the air above a scene to explore angles for his articles. This time his mind was somewhere else.

"Are you out of your mind?" Lois shrieked, and then coughed deeply. "You left there without finding out who could be behind the initial explosion?"

"Gee, Lois. Shouldn't you breathe through that oxygen thing?"

"Please tell me you spoke to the police. Do they have any leads? Suspects in custody?"

"I didn't really have a chance to speak to them. I came here as soon as I heard about you."

"Jesus, Clark! Now all the papers in Metropolis would have first hand details about the explosion, and the only thing we'll have is an article about the colour of the sheets in Metropolis General. What were you thinking, leaving the place before you had all the details? I'm in a hospital. What can you do that the doctors here can't?"

"I don't know, Lois," Clark shrugged. "Hold your hand?"

"Nice one, Clark." Lois's voice was beyond cynical. Still, she gave him her hand to hold for a moment before sending him back to see if it wasn't too late to dig up something.

Clark left the building through the window of the room just below Lois's. He wasn't worried about the story. Lois figured it would take him half an hour to get to the reservoir. So he had half an hour minus two seconds to spend with her and still get there on time, including changing his clothes twice on the way. Soaring one story up, he changed for the first of these two times, and entered Lois's room through the window.

--------------------------------------------------------

Lois leaned back as Clark left, and fixed the oxygen tube over her nose. She wouldn't admit it to him, but he was right. She still had trouble breathing without it. She smiled as she thought of Clark. Giving up a story because he was worried about her. That was cute. She wouldn't give up a story for anyone. She looked out the window and saw Superman flying towards her. Almost anyone.

She tried to sit up, but the oxygen tube pulled her back by the nose. Before she could tear it off, Superman's hand was gently on hers, holding her back.

"You look better," he said.

"Thank you for saving my life, again," Lois said. "This time I really thought I was going to check out."

"It was very close," Superman said. "I was lucky to find you when I did. You shouldn't take such risks.

"You said you're always around."

"Maybe 'always' was not the right word to use."

He sat on the edge of her bed, his cape folding beneath him. This time he was really sitting. She could feel his weight shifting the mattress. Their eyes met. There was still much concern in his blue gaze.

"Lois," he began slowly, as if measuring the words. "This is the first chance we've had to talk privately in two months. You're always around people, or with Jason."

"I have a hard time letting him out of my sight since that ordeal with Luthor," Lois said. "And on top of that, I'm afraid that if he spends much time with other people he might let them in on his – our secret."

Superman nodded. "I owe you a huge – the word 'apology' doesn't even begin to describe it."

"What for?"

"For leaving you alone, pregnant with my child. I'm so sorry. I wish I hadn't gone. I needed to see Krypton for myself, but had I known you were with child, I never would have left."

Lois's smile was bitter. "I've told you before," she said. "I think it's a load of crap. You can see everything. Hear everything. How could you not know I was pregnant?"

"I didn't think to scan you for a developing embryo," Superman said. "I had no reason to suspect. I guess that between General Zod and the discovery of Krypton, I missed the signs."

"It doesn't really matter," Lois said. "The fact is that you didn't even bother to let me know you were going. This attempt to make an apology just makes it worse."

Superman looked defeated., which must have been a new experience for him. "I don't want to make you feel worse. I wish I hadn't said anything, then."

"Well," Lois said. Any smile, even bitter, was gone. "You could wipe my memory again, and I won't remember you ever said that."

Superman's eyes widened, but there was a soft look in them. "Wipe your memory? You know?"

"I figured as much," Lois said. "It's not like me to forget a Kyptonian general trying to take over the world. When I realised I was pregnant I had my suspicions, but I only found out about the pregnancy after I started dating Richard, so I wasn't sure. Now that I know Jason is yours, I have no doubt about it. If you wanted me to forget having sex with you, you missed the whole point by leaving behind the consequences of your actions. We did have sex, right?"

Superman rose to his feet and began pacing the room. "It wasn't like that," he said. He turned to face her, a pleading look on his face. "We were in love."

"Still are," Lois cut into his words.

"Don't say that." Superman resumed his pacing.

Lois nodded, although what she really wanted to do was scream. "Go on."

"We were together. We made love. We were going to spend the rest of our lives with each other." He paused and seemed to gather strength to tell her the rest. "Then General Zod showed up. Even without knowing we were lovers, he took you in order to threaten me. If he had known, he would have killed you in an instant." Lois had never seen Superman shudder before, but he shuddered now. "When we realised we couldn't be together, you didn't take it very well. You couldn't sleep. You couldn't eat. I was afraid you'd do something stupid, so I took away the memories that hurt you so much. I didn't know there was more to the time we spent together than memories."

His story touched a sensitive spot in Lois's heart, but her anger was still raging. "That must have been very flattering, that I lost sleep over you."

Superman stopped pacing and stared straight into her eyes. "I wasn't flattered. I was terrified. You were a lot better once the memories were gone. I wish I had known you were carrying my son."

"What would you have done?" Lois asked. "You'd have taken care to remove that piece of evidence as well?"

"Never." Superman said. He reached the bed and took Lois's hand in his. "Thank you for having my son."

His touch was warm, as it had always been. Lois felt all the blood in her body flowing towards the one spot that could sense his bare skin. She wished she could touch more of him, be held in his arms, her body crushed into his. She now knew for a fact that the suit did come off.

"Where is Jason now?" Superman asked.

"He's with Richard," Lois said. "I called him as soon as they let me use the phone."

Superman sighed. This meant that he couldn't see Jason any more tonight. Or maybe he could. "Does Richard know?" he asked.

Lois's bitter smile was back. "I haven't spoken to him in two months, except for visiting arrangements for Jason," she said. "He doesn't know Jason's your son, but I'm sure he figured out I'm still in love with you when I told him not to wait for me by the hospital, when he took me to see you. I suspect he knew this even before I did. The moment you reappeared on the planet."

"He's a good man," Superman said. "You've said so yourself. He'd make a good, loving husband. You shouldn't dismiss him this quickly."

Lois was hurt. She didn't know what hurt more: the fact that Superman was willing to see her with someone else, or the suggestion she should marry out of convenience. "How can I be with him when I love you?"

"You can't love me, Lois." Superman's voice was tender, almost breaking. "We've tried this before. Things went very wrong."

Even if Superman had tried to stop her, Lois still would have sat up right in bed. "You're supposed to be the bravest hero on the planet. You're supposed to never give up. How can you give up on love? You can't stand here and tell me that you don't love me. As the reporter with the most stories on you, I know for a fact that you don't usually do house calls on people you save."

The moment the last word left her lips he was gone. Lois threw herself back into the pillow. She knew what he was trying to do. Saving people was in his nature. He was trying to save her from himself, from being in a dead-end relationship with him. Well, this time she wasn't going to break down when he left her. Even if he disappeared for another five years, this time she was not going to move on.

**A/N:** Thank you for taking the time to review! I really appreciate the effort. You're right in saying that Lois's behaviour is annoying. However, I felt that canon!Lois is the kind of reporter who hangs by her nails from an elevator full of terrorists and an A-Bomb in chase of a story, so she has to also be the kind of reporter who walks into a burning gas reservoir for a similar cause. **LostSchizophrenic**, **Beeto** – Thank you! Fixed the ice thing, too late to change the pools, but at least I've learned something for next time. **Ancelin** – _As far_ _as they know_, Luthor was lost at sea. **snowflake14** and to all who may be concerned – you may quote this story wherever you like, as long as you mail me a link and keep a link to the original on FanFiction site.

**A/N 2:** None of the Betas returned my e-mails, so this is still not proof-read. Oh well…

7


	4. Chapter 4: Secret identity

**A/N:** The character of Dr Piers Crispin is homage to the BBC Super-Hero parody series "My Hero".

**A/N 2:** Per your request ;-), Jason bit in this chapter. Wasn't here in the original story outline.

**Chapter 4: Secret identity**

20,000 US dollars. That's what Lex Luthor managed to get for his amazingly improved helicopter engine that could run for seventeen straight hours on a single quart of gasoline. He had developed this engine in only three days on the tiny island on which he and Kitty had landed, with nothing but coconut bark for a screwdriver. With this engine, the few drops of gasoline that had stuck to the walls of the helicopter's fuel tank were enough to carry them over a hundred miles back to civilisation, if one could call the tiny Cuban village they reached 'civilisation'.

Anywhere else in the world Luthor would have got millions of dollars for this revolutionarily efficient engine. But it wasn't money he was after. He had plenty of that left from Gertrude's estate, and with this sell, he could now reach that money again. It wasn't even Superman he wanted, even though he'd obviously have to get the Man of Steel out of the way to avoid prison. It was the excitement. The rush of doing something outrageous. Something that would leave people gaping when they read about it in the newspapers. That is, the people who survived whatever he was going to do. He missed the rush.

Lex Luthor used the money from the sale to buy a place on a boat that would take him back to Metropolis. Kitty, he left in Cuba.

--------------------------------------------------------

Clark dropped a stack of notes on Lois's desk. "Are you sure you should be here this s- soon?" he asked, pointing to her bandaged arm. Her feet were wrapped in bandages as well, and she had no shoes on. Ancient-looking slippers lay by the side of her desk. "You're the b- best journalist the Planet has, but I'm sure we can manage without you for a few days."

"We've already lost one day on this fire investigation," Lois said. "They refused to release me from the stupid hospital yesterday, even though I'm perfectly fine."

Clark knew why they had refused. Superman has had a little chat with Lois's doctors, imploring them to keep her there for as long as they could. _As long as they could_ turned out to be a single day. Longer than that, and Lois threatened to discharge herself without their consent in addition to suing them for kidnapping her.

Lois flipped though the pages. "So, the police suspect an ex-employee of the reservoir," she said. "That must have been some grudge he was carrying, to plant a bomb that nearly levelled half the city. Let's go question him."

"Already tried," Clark said. "The police won't let the press anywhere near him."

"Obviously, you haven't tried hard enough," Lois said. She slid her bandaged feet into the slippers and got up. An expression of pain crossed over her face, but was gone in less than a second.

"You- You're being ridiculous," Clark said, forcing himself to stammer as if in an extreme emotional state. He wished he could be more assertive, but as Clark he couldn't afford any display of strength. Not even of character. "It's raining outside. You'll get your f- feet all w- wet. We can call his lawyer from here. Why let him shut he door in our faces when he can slam the phone down on us?"

Lois sat down resentfully, but Clark's keen eyes, even though hidden behind thick glasses, caught a momentary look of relief on her face. He sat down on her desk and reached for the phone, when something on Lois's computer monitor caught his eyes.

"W- What's that you're working on?" he asked. This time he didn't have to pretend to stammer. The monitor showed a full body picture of Superman, but instead of his red and blue suit, he was clad in regular black trousers and a white T-shirt.

Lois hesitated a moment, and then turned the monitor towards him. "You have to promise me to keep this a secret," she said.

Now that Clark could look more intently at the picture, he realised that these were not his legs or exposed arms in the picture. He also didn't own trousers that even resembled the ones Superman was supposedly wearing. But he pretended not to know these details. "Oh, him," he said. "Is this a real picture of Superman? Where did you get it?"

"This isn't really Superman," Lois said. "This is his head stuck on someone else's body. I found a picture of someone roughly the same height and glued Superman's head on it."

"Why?" Clark asked. His mind was busy trying to find ways to distract her. She was close. Too close. He felt as if the walls were closing in on him.

"I have reasons to suspect Superman has a secret identity he uses when he doesn't want people to know he's Superman. I want to find out what it is."

"I don't think Superman can have a secret identity," Clark said. He was desperate to find a way to deter Lois from further pursuing this idea. "He never hides his face, so if he ever tried to take off his suit, people would still recognise him. Did he look any different to you when he was wearing hospital gown?

"No, he didn't," Lois admitted. "But maybe he does something to his face? Wears a wig, or changes his nose? I don't know. I want to check it out."

"Maybe he's wearing a mask when he's not Superman,' Clark said.

"How could he? It'll draw too much attention. People would think he's a mugger."

"Not if it's the kind of mask they put on burn victims."

Lois frowned at him. "How would Superman ever convince anyone he needs a burns mask? That's absurd. He can't get burned even if he wanted to."

Clark remembered the one time he actually wanted to get burned. He and Lois had been in a cheesy motel by Niagara Falls on assignment, and he'd dropped his glasses into the fire. Lois had then realised he was Superman, which had led to a series of unfortunate events that ended up in him taking away a week's worth of her memories. "I guess he can't," he said sadly.

"What about a wig?" Lois said. She created several copies of the picture on her monitor, and fitted them with different wigs, each one more ridiculous that the other.

Clark had a hard time stifling his laughter. "I like that blond one," he said, pointing at the picture of him with heavy yellow curls. He looked like he was wearing a _Mary had a little lamb_ costume. He just wasn't sure if he was supposed to be Mary or that lamb.

"It does look familiar," Lois said, leaving Clark gaping at her. "Maybe with glasses…"

"No glasses!" Clark blurted out, cutting her off. "The same as what you said about the mask, how would Superman ever convince anyone that he needed glasses?"

"You're right," Lois said. Clark hoped that his relief wasn't too obvious. "On second thought, I think there's something about the nose that isn't exactly right." She tried to fit several noses on the curled picture. On the fifth attempt her hand halted in mid-motion, and flew to her open mouth. Her eyes were open even wider. "I know him," she gasped.

"You do?" Clark said. He was so surprised he forgot to use Clark's nasal voice, but Lois was too taken by her discovery to have noticed.

"This is Dr Piers Crispin," she said. "He's a doctor in the hospital where Jason is treated for his allergies. Of course," she slapped her forehead with her hand. "I should have known Superman's alter-ego would also be someone who helps people. What else could he be?"

_A newspaper reporter,_ Clark thought to himself, but said nothing. He considered it for a moment, and then decided there was no harm in letting Lois think this double of his was actually him. The worst that could happen was that she would be seriously embarrassed when she tried to pull off his not-so-false nose.

"He only started at the hospital three months ago," Lois went on. "About the same time Superman came back. Before that he was abroad on the _Heal the World_ program." She lowered her voice. "Or so he claims."

"That's an amazing coincidence," Clark said. Amazing indeed. If he didn't know better, he would have started to share Lois's suspicions. Somebody looking almost exactly like him, the same built, reappearing in Metropolis about the same time as he did. That was weird even for a city as big as Metropolis.

"Hardly a coincidence," Lois said. She looked victorious. "This was amazingly easy. I can't believe I didn't think of this before." She got up from her chair and walked around her desk, this time completely forgetting to put on her sleepers.

"Where are you g- going," Clark said. He needed every bit of his acting abilities to avoid rushing to the door and blocking her way. Clark Kent couldn't move that agilely. "What if he's not S-" People were looking at them from the nearest desks, and Clark quickly changed his phrasing. "-not who you think he is?" He lowered his voice, to make Lois move closer, back to her desk. "We need to track him first. Learn about his daily routine. Check his reaction to crisis. Maybe test his strength, or invulnerability. We could find out if he's, you know, without looking like idiots if he's not."

"He is."

Clark tried to find a good argument, and then one stepped into the room, filling his heart with softness and warmth. He smiled at Jason as Lois gave him a hug.

"Hi Mr Kent," Jason said, smiling back. He seemed to like Clark, and his smile was genuine, but just like his mother, Jason's eyes lacked that spark they had when he saw him in the red-and-blue suit.

The previous evening, Superman had to settle for watching Jason from outside his bedroom wall in Richard's apartment. And the evening before that, their time together was cut short by the fire. Clark missed spending time with his son. He knew he couldn't share quite the same activities with him at the Planet, but any time with Jason was welcome. "Do you want me to tell you a story?" Clark asked. "Give your mommy time to finish what she's doing, so she can take you home?"

"What about?" Jason asked eagerly.

"It's about a beautiful Thai princess who," Clark began. He could see he was losing Jason's interest, so decided to go with a version Lois might like a little less. "had to wrestle an alligator in Egypt."

"A princess?" Jason asked sceptically.

"What, just because she's a girl you think she can't wrestle an alligator?" Clark said. Maybe Lois would like this story after all.

Jason considered this. "My mommy can wrestle an alligator," he said eventually.

Clark laughed kindly as Lois snorted. "Of course she can," he said. "I just hope she doesn't try it anytime soon. Go wait for me by my desk. I'll be there in a minute."

"If his doctor is just Dr Crispin and nothing else," Clark began, returning to the conversation he and Lois had had before Jason had interrupted them, "and you tell him now that you think he's Superman, you will never be able to take Jason to see him again."

"Then what do you suggest?" Lois asked. She wore an annoyed expression.

"Not now," Clark said. He watched Jason sitting is his chair, which was set for Clark's height. Jason's legs didn't reach the floor, and he was swinging them, gently kicking the leg of Clark's desk. "Let's discuss it over dinner."

"Early dinner," Lois said. "My place. I have someone coming over at seven."

"Oh?" Something clenched in Clark's chest.

"A repairman," Lois said. "My drier is broken."

"Oh." Clark smiled. There was no repairman. Her dryer was perfectly fine, he was sure of it. Lois was just making sure the place was safe for him – for Superman to come be with her son. He certainly wasn't going to stand in her way. "I'll be there at five," he said. "I'll get Chinese on the way."

As he walked towards his desk, Clark breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He was going to create an elaborate and utterly complex plan to "expose" Dr Piers Crispin. The longer it would take Lois to find out that this doctor wasn't him, the more effort she would put into the project, the more likely she was to give up on the idea. If it were too easy, she would just rush back to her computer and continue her search for him. He needed to make sure she thought it wasn't worth the effort. But for now, he had to think up a story about an alligator wrestling warrior princess.

--------------------------------------------------------

In his renewed study in the old subway tunnels under Metropolis, Lex Luthor was working on a new device.

--------------------------------------------------------

**A/N 3:** I appreciate the efforts of those of you who reviewed the previous chapter (sadly, fewer of you with each chapter). **Eviefan** – my sentiments exactly :). **Malfoysvixen** – I absolutely love Destiny's child. Very flattering that something in my story made you think of this song. **Mrs. St. John Allerdyce, Mr.Firenze** – thanks! **LostSchizophrenic** – Thanks for the offer. I'd love to have the chapters scrutinised for grammar and spelling mistakes. Let me know when your computer come back from the shop (all safe and sound, hopefully). Regardless, you should at least rent the first two movies. If you haven't seen them before, you're in for a treat. **red lighting** - :) All in due time… **Angel452** – My apologies. Going as fast as I can with very little free time.

**A/N 4:** Just to let you know, plenty of Jason in the next chapter.

7


	5. Chapter 5: Mr Mxyzptlk

**A/N:** Mr Mxyzptlk is a recurring character in the Superman comics, where he's described as "a constant thorn in Superman's side". He made guest appearances in various shows, including _Lois and Clark: The new Adventures of Superman_ (season 4, episode 11 – "Twas The Night Before Mxymas") and an adapted version in _Smallville_ (Season 4, episode 7 – "Jinx"). The character of Mr Mxyzptlk was the inspiration for several other imp-like characters in various shows such as _The Flintstones_, _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_, and more. But don't worry. You don't need to have read or seen any of these to follow this story.

**A/N 2:** I have a beta! I have a beta! And a darn fine writer she is, too. She writes under the pseudonym Majestrix. You should definitely check out her stories.

**Chapter 5: Mr Mxyzptlk**

At ten minutes to five, Metropolis time, Superman dropped the last boulder on the path of an erupting volcano in Indonesia and headed to Vietnam. He changed into a dark grey suit, picked up the pre-ordered food, and a moment later knocked on Lois's door.

He'd been to this house many times before, but this was the first time he had used the door. In fact, it was the first time he had seen it from the outside. A clay sign painted red and yellow hang on it, declaring in childish handwriting that this was the happy residence of Lois Lane and Jason White. Clark could see the marks where Richard's name had been scratched off.

The Vietnamese takeout was in three bags. It could have fit into two, but Clark made sure there would be just the wrong number of bags to carry elegantly. Dropping the takeout food he'd just brought was one of Clark's trademarks, and the main reason why nobody ever suspected he could be Superman. Of course, he made sure there would only be dry food in the bag he would drop.

Lois opened the door and immediately recognised the danger of letting her clumsy co-worker walk inside with the food. She tried to take the extra bag from his hands, but was too late. Clark dropped it, spilling steamed rice all over the floor and on the bandages on Lois's feet.

Both Lois and Clark tried to pick it up at the same time, nearly banging their heads together. Or at least, that's what it felt like to Lois. Clark made sure there wouldn't be any actual contact. Obviously, Lois's head couldn't sustain the blow.

"You sit down," he said. "I'll pick it up." When she opened her mouth to protest, he raised a reassuring hand. "I should be used to picking up things from the floor by now."

Lois laughed and sat down by the table. She folded her legs on the chair, picking rice grains out of her bandages.

Clark set the surviving bags on the table and picked up the spilt rice with a napkin. He looked nervously into the open rice box. "I think there should be enough rice left," he said, and then picked a tiny grain from her foot: "You missed one."

"How did you see that?" Lois asked. She could barely see the white rice over her white bandages.

Clark pointed at his glasses. "Strong prescription," he said.

Picking at the bags, Lois frowned. "This is still hot," she said with surprise. "How did you keep it this way?"

Clark shrugged and took a mental note to blow on the food to cool it down next time. "I brought these especially for Jason," he said, changing the subject quickly. He took out a box containing two steamed spring-rolls. "They're just like egg-rolls, only not fried, and without any allergens." He remembered how much Jason wanted to taste the egg-rolls, and that his mother wouldn't let him. With his genetics, Clark knew that Jason would soon be able to eat anything, including explosive devices, without causing himself any real damage. For the time-being, he decided to humour Lois with her overprotectiveness of her son.

"He'd love it," Lois said, smiling. Looking up, she called Jason to the table. "He's upstairs, pretending one of his toy bears is a crocodile," she told Clark, laughing. "He's been wrestling it all afternoon."

Jason came down the stairs, dragging a teddy-bear behind him. One of the bear's ears was torn and hung by a thread. Clark considered complimenting him on his strength, but thought better of it. Jason's strength was a sensitive issue. "I hope you're hungry," he said instead.

"Look what Clark brought you," Lois said, pointing at his plate. While Clark was watching Jason, she had managed to fix him a plate full of everything he was allowed to eat.

"Wow! Egg-rolls!" Jason said, sitting down eagerly, but then he drew his hands back and look worriedly up to his mommy. "Can I have them?"

"Of course, Munchkin," Lois said. Her voice was always softer when she spoke to her son. "I wouldn't have put them in your plate if you couldn't. Clark found a special type of egg-rolls that you can eat and won't trigger you allergies."

Despite the early hour, both Lois and Jason were soon engrossed in their meal. Lois, as always when she was deep in a story, had forgotten to have lunch that day. But it wasn't just the fact that she was hungry. Clark had chosen what he considered to be the best restaurant on the entire planet. He knew the cook personally, and had made sure the cook knew this was a special occasion. He felt so full of warmth just watching the two enjoy themselves that he had completely forgotten to eat.

Jason was finished first. He held his teddy-bear under the table and resumed his game. Clark watched through the table as Jason was feeding his hand to the stuffed bear, and then pretending to have trouble releasing it from the soft creature's 'jaws'. To his surprise, Clark noticed that Jason, too, seemed to be looking at the game through the table. He'd have to talk to his son about X-Ray vision later tonight.

Lois's words shook Clark out of his reverie. She pointed at a piece of steamed fish in black bean sauce on his plate. "Are you eating that?" she said.

Clark looked distractedly at her. "No, you can have it."

"You haven't eaten anything," Jason said. He looked worried. A look too mature for his young age.

"Oh, I had some on the way here," Clark said, putting on an embarrassed expression. "I couldn't resist the smell."

"I can understand that," Lois said, fishing the last piece from his plate. "This is amazing. Where did you get it?"

Clark had an answer ready for this tricky question. "A private place," he said. "Mostly Vietnamese customers. I'll take you there someday, if you want."

Finally, Lois was done eating. She leaned back and smiled contently. But Lois was not the kind of person to sit back for too long. A few minutes later the table had been cleared, and she and Clark were sitting in the living room holding hot tea mugs while Jason was back playing in his room.

"I was thinking about ways to find out if Dr Crispin was really Superman," Clark said. He sniffed his tea suspiciously. Lois had used some unidentified herbs to brew it.

"Drink up," Lois said. "It's dandelion root. It's good for digestion."

Clark took a sip. Surprisingly, the tea tasted quite good. "First we need to check Dr Crispin's medical records," he said. "If he'd ever been sick or injured, that means he can't be Superman."

"He's a doctor," Lois said. "He can create a false medical record if he wants to."

Clark bit his lower lip. He knew she would reach this conclusion. She was certainly smart enough. He just hoped it would take her more time. "Then we need to watch him closely for one day," he said. "If he's Superman and we're lucky, we'll be able to see him use his powers, or change into his Superman suit. If not, we need to match the times we see him with the times of Superman's sightings. If we can see him at exactly the same time Superman is seen, then they can't be the same person." Clark's intention was to change into his Red and Blue suit when Dr Crispin was in the toilet, or when he was otherwise out of sight. Not enough to confirm her suspicions, but enough to make her keep looking. Superman would have to keep a low profile during this period. Clark hoped there wouldn't be any major crisis that would require Superman's immediate attention, or his plan would blow in his face.

"That's it?" Lois said. She put her mug down on the table, looking annoyed. Clark noticed that she had a new coffee table and smiled to himself. "That's your plan? To watch the man for days until he makes a mistake? That will take too long."

_I'm counting on it_, Clark thought.

"What if we bring the crisis to him?" Lois said. "We can force him to use his powers to save someone."

"Who?" Clark said. He dreaded the answer.

"His office is on the fifth floor," Lois said. "I can _accidentally_ trip and fall out the window."

"What if he's not Superman?" Clark shrieked. He didn't have to pretend to panic. "You could get killed!"

"Don't worry. I'll hold on to the railing."

"Lois," Clark tried to reason with her. "You can't be serious. What if Superman is far away and you lose your grip?"

Lois looked determined. His words didn't seem to convince her. But then the determination was replaced with concern "There is a flaw to this plan," She said. "What if there are other people around? He'll have to expose himself in front of too many people."

The only thing that prevented Lois from risking her life to get information was her wish to protect him. Clark was touched. He felt a strong urge to kiss her, and was forced to hold himself back. He held on just a little too tight. The handle of the mug he was holding suddenly cracked.

This had been his second mistake that day. First he showed off with food that was too hot and obviously not from around, even if he did have an excuse ready to explain the latter part of the puzzle. And now the mug. Five years ago he'd made a similar mistake. Then, he had let Lois see him "accidentally" burn his hand. He could have used his super-speed to take his hand out of the fire before she even noticed it. He could have rushed to the bathroom and pretended to wash his burns until they were better. Obviously Lois couldn't have stopped him if he had really wanted to hide his perfectly healthy hand. He had then told Lois that he didn't know why he did it. She had answered that maybe he wanted to, with his heart. Was the same thing repeating itself now? Was his heart telling him to let her see who he really was? He couldn't afford to let her know. Not this time around. The ending of such an exposure was pre-written and bitter. He couldn't take it – to have her and then lose her all over again.

Clark thought quickly and then dropped the mug to the floor before Lois noticed he'd been able to break it with his bare hands.

"What if we try to prick him with a small tack?" Lois asked while wiping the floor with a stack of paper-towels after refusing Clark's offer to help. "That's odd," she said, picking up the thick glass fragments. "The mug is intact. Only the handle was broken, and it's practically crumbled."

"How can you do that without drawing his attention?" Clark said, not wanting to discus the broken tea mug. He had agreed not to help her only because he feared his unsteady emotions would lead him to stab himself with a glass shred, only to show Lois that he couldn't be stabbed. "And even if you do, he can always pretend to be hurt. You don't always bleed from a small prick." Or so he was told.

"I guess the tack would bend, or break, or something," Lois said. She tossed the wet paper-towels along with the broken mug into the litter-bin.

"Did you ever try to bend a tack?" Clark said. "You'd have to push pretty hard to make it bend. By the way, your repairman is late." He was glad that his time was up. He wanted to spend more time with Lois and Jason, but as himself. He had enough of pretending for one day.

Lois looked at the video timer with panic. Three minutes past seven. "I have to give Jason his bath," she said. "We'll talk more tomorrow, OK?"

"Over a real dinner, m- maybe?" Clark said. Jason was supposed to stay at Richard's the next day. Superman wouldn't be able to visit him anyway, and Lois would have the night off.

"You're sweet, Clark," Lois began, "but I only just broke up with Richard..."

"It doesn't have to be that kind of date," Clark said. "I know you're not exactly available. I just th- think it would be nice to get out of the house once in a while. Talk to a friend."

Lois considered this for a moment. "Sure," she said finally. "We'll talk details tomorrow. Now I really have to get on with Jason's bath."

Clark said goodbye and walked out the door. A moment later he watched her through the window as she sat down to wait.

Superman didn't want to come in just as Clark left. Lois was growing suspicious enough as it was. There were plenty of cries for help and alarms going off in the city to keep him busy for a while. In half an hour he would be back.

--------------------------------------------------------

Lex Luthor leaned forward and examined the electronic device on his worktable. It was probably done, but there was only one way to be sure. He flipped the power switch on. A small three-dimensional model of the room he was in appeared over the projection panel of the device. Luthor smiled with evil satisfaction.

In the time he'd spent in Cuba until he had managed to find a buyer to his helicopter, Lex Luthor had had an idea. He knew time travel could not be achieved, of course, but time manipulation very well could. If he could manipulate the events of the past a certain way – change the course of history – then he could create whichever present he wanted. Of course, other people would not have been aware of the changes, which was sad, as there would be no press coverage. But with the results he was hoping for, he would have enough headlines in due time. "Again and again," Luthor hummed to himself, "the press underestimates me."

Luthor had only a faint idea about the kind of present he wanted to create. The possibilities were unlimited. He could be ruler of Australia. King of the Americas. Supreme commander of the entire world. He could create a religion that would consider him a reincarnation of god on earth. He could change the past so that his own birth would have been prophesied a thousand of years in advance.

Luthor didn't have to make up his mind yet. He could play with the presents, try on every reality for a few days, and only then make a decision. He fumbled with the controls, and then something unexpected happened. Instead of moving the image backwards in time, a small entity appeared by his side.

"You called?" the entity said. It had the appearance of a small, almost, but not quite human. More like an imp. He was wearing a tight orange and purple suit, a purple derby hat, and a smirk. He sat cross-legged in mid air, his head only slightly above Luthor's.

Luthor studies the small figure through narrowed eyes. "No, not really," he said.

"Too bad." The imp did a backward somersault and resumed his sitting position with nothing but air to support him. "Because I'm here now."

"Who are you?" Luthor asked. "And why are you in my study?"

The creature flipped onto his head and rotated slowly a full circle. "You call this a study?" he said, still on his head. "This is barely an underground hole. I'm surprised that someone who could develop an inter-dimensional manipulator would work in such a place."

Luthor just stared at him.

"I'm Mxyzptlk," the creature said. "Mr Mxyzptlk. I come from what you'd call the fifth dimension. I'd call it something else, but your language doesn't have the right syllables to pronounce it."

"Very nice to meet you," Luthor said. His tone of voice and the look in his eyes suggested that he didn't think it was nice at all. "Now buzz off. I have work to do."

"Sure," Mxyzptlk said. "I'll just take this with me." The device disappeared from Luthor's worktable and reappeared in his small hands. "Can't have someone else manipulating the passage between dimensions."

"Give it back," Luthor growled.

Mxyzptlk laughed and hovered higher, just outside of Luthor's reach. "Won't!"

"Fine," Luthor said, sitting down and leaning back. "I'll just build a new one and send you back to your own fifth dimension, or wherever it is you come from."

"How will you do that if you don't have any tools?" Mxyzptlk asked. As the words came out, all the tools on the worktable grew tiny lags and began to scatter about.

Luthor watched them, still sitting, a glimmer in his eyes.

"No fair!" Mxyzptlk said. "You were supposed to chase them. That would have been so funny!"

"Oh, I have a much funnier idea," Luthor said, and a smile played on his lips. He whispered with mock enthusiasm, as if talking to a small child. "How about, we take over the world?"

"What's the fun in that?" Mxyzptlk asked. He seemed genuinely upset.

"I'll tell you _what's the fun in that_," Luthor said. He brushed off a screwdriver that was trying to climb down his leg. "When we're rulers of the world, everyone has to do exactly as we say." He had Mxyzptlk's attention, but the imp still didn't look convinced. "We can make it illegal to use the right leg in the mornings and the left leg in the afternoons, for example."

"People will hop on one leg all day long!" Mxyzptlk laughed. He did another somersault and landed on the chandelier. Luthor's device turned to sand that landed in a pile by his feet. "We can make it illegal to even have legs!"

"Well… that's…" Luthor began, and then reconsidered. He'd have ample time to deal with this crazy creature's ideas after he got what he wanted. "Sure. Why not."

"Where do we start?" Mxyzptlk asked, rubbing his hands together. The tools finally lost their legs and dropped to the floor where they were.

"We start," Luthor said, the glimmer in his eyes growing deeper and darker, "with Superman."

--------------------------------------------------------

**A/N 3:** Blah. This turned out to be a long chapter. The first part of it was supposed to be short sequence. They were supposed to eat, decide they were going to trail Dr Crispin, and then move on to clear the area for the rest of the plot. Bloody characters do whatever they damn please. Well, I guess that means Superman and Jason's meeting, as well as the actual trailing will have to wait to chapter 6. Good news to you Jason fans.

**A/N 4:** Again, I'm thrilled that you give me the opportunity to thank you. **Speakfire** – Thank you, especially for that bit of constructive critique at the end. I confess that I find Luthor's doings a bit boring, so I tried to cut them short. I'll try to give a few more details in the future. **LostSchizophrenic** – Here's to you getting filthy rich :). **red lighting**, **Mrs. St. John Allerdyce** – Thank you! **wierdIT**, **Jokerisdaking**, **Sunny2006** – Thank you for letting me know what your favourite part was, That'll help me know to put an emphasis on these parts. **Jedi-Bant** – Ah, eventually… something… Can't give away the plot ;). **Angel452** – Lois is currently sure that Dr Crispin is her beloved man in tights. In the future… who knows? (well, me, but I'm not telling…) **CindyB** – Oh, I'm afraid I didn't really write the Princess story Clark was telling Jason. But plenty of Jason in this chapter, and in the next one as well.


	6. Chapter 6: See You Tomorrow

**Chapter 6: See You Tomorrow**

Superman managed to stop two robberies, hand in four muggers to the police, save one little girl and her kitten from a house fire, and pick up a package before he entered Jason's room through the window, half an hour after he'd left the house as Clark Kent.

Jason was already in his pyjamas, as Lois had tired of waiting for Superman and gave her son his nightly bath. He was sitting on the wooden floor, still playing Alligator Warrior with his stuffed bear. "Daddy!" he jumped up, tossing the bear aside as Superman landed.

Lois came into the room when she heard her son's joyful cry. "I though you weren't coming today," she said. "Jason needs to be in bed in –" She looked at her watch "twenty five minutes."

"I'm sorry," Superman said. "You had company earlier."

Lois seemed to shrink a little.

"Can I play with daddy until then?" Jason asked. Both he and his father stared at her with a pleading look in the matching blue eyes.

"Of course." Lois smiled. She loved watching the two of them interact. It was also the only time she could spend in the presence of Superman. To deny Jason this pleasure would be to deny herself as well.

"Thank you," Superman said and turned to Jason, who already had a large bag of marbles in his hand.

"I've got something to show you!" Jason said, and rushed down the stairs to their favourite spot in the living room.

Superman resisted the urge to take Lois in his arms and carry her downstairs. Her feet were still in bandages, and he was certain that she felt pain with every step she made. Instead, he took the package he'd brought with him, descended the stairs and sat down beside Jason. A second later, half the marbles from the bag were en route to the opposite wall. They all came within an inch of the wall, none of them crashing into it.

"Very well done," Superman said, hugging his son, who had a triumphant expression on his face. He would still have to work with Jason on precision. In a few years Jason would be able to bring the marbles exactly to the wall. Precision was crucial for when catching someone fall, for instance. An inch too far and the collision with his arms, which were growing stronger and firmer, would break the falling man's bones. For now, Jason wasn't about to catch anyone falling, so the precision could wait. This had been a more than sufficient display of controlling his strength.

"Wasn't it just _a little_ too fast?" Lois asked. "I couldn't see his hands moving."

"Yes," Superman sighed. That was yet another ability they would have to get under control. And he already had the X-Ray vision to talk to Jason about.

"I have something for you," Superman told Jason. He showed him the package he was holding. "Can you tell me what it is without opening it?"

"An alligator!" Jason cried. He tried to tear through the wrapping but Superman stopped him.

It was Lois's turn to sigh.

"You can have it in a few minutes," Superman said. "But first, I want you to tell me what colour the alligator is."

"Green, of course," Jason said and stretched his hand for his present.

"Are you sure?" Superman asked. "Look carefully."

Jason stared at the present, slightly narrowing his eyes. "No, it's blue with green stripes. Its eyes are brown with black slits." He paused a moment, and when he still didn't get the present from his father, he added, "the tip of the tail is also brown."

"What is it made of?" Superman asked.

Jason took a deep breath and looked up before staring at the present again. "It's plush, and the eyes are plastic," he said. "It's filled with little white grains, but I don't know what stuff they are."

"One last question," Superman asked. It was important to know that Jason could focus his eyes to whatever depth he wanted to reach, and no further. With his new strength and the wrong focus, he could accidentally walk through anything, or worse, through anyone. "What colour is the wrapping paper."

Jason looked at him puzzled. "Everyone can see that," he complained, but then decided that the alligator was worth answering even a stupid question. "It's blue with white flowers."

"Again, you're doing wonderfully," Superman said, and finally gave Jason his present. Jason tore through the wrapping and hugged his new green and blue alligator.

"How did you know?" Lois asked.

Superman smiled at her. "I was watching Jason earlier," he said. That wasn't entirely a lie.

"I didn't notice he had X-Ray vision," Lois said, a little upset. She wondered if Jason had seen her smoking at front of the house when she thought he had been busy in his room. She didn't want him to know she was still doing it now and again. "Do you need to work on it with him?"

"No," Superman said. "I think he's got that one entirely under control by himself. But there is the speed he showed earlier." He frowned.

"How are you going to work on that? Lois asked.

"I don't know," Superman said. He got up and stood by Lois as they watched Jason being bit on the neck by his new plush doll. "I don't remember speed even being a problem when I first started manifesting it."

Lois tilted her head to one side. "I never though you needed to go through the same process," she said. "I thought that you came to earth with all your abilities already developed."

Superman took a step back. Earlier that evening he'd slipped twice as Clark Kent, and now he'd said another thing he shouldn't have. He though quickly and decided to go with the truth. As little of it as he could.

"I came to earth as a little boy," he said. "But I only became Superman when I was an adult."

"You mean," Lois said, deciding to seize the opportunity, "you only adopted this identity after you grew up." She took a deep breath and plunged on. "Who are you when you're not wearing this suit?"

Superman closed his eyes, and the muscles of his jaw tightened. "You really don't want to know," he said. "That was the main problem when… the last time that…" He couldn't think of words he could use in front of Jason to describe the connection they had shared before he had taken her memories of it.

"I understand," Lois said. The set of her jaw said otherwise. She turned to her son. "Jason, kiss your father goodnight and go to bed."

"I'll come tuck you in," Superman said. He didn't want Jason to suffer because Lois was angry with him.

"You stay right here," Lois ordered Superman, as if she could actually force this powerful man to do anything.

"I'll come upstairs in a minute," Superman assured Jason. "Now do as your mommy tells you."

Dejectedly, Jason kissed both his parents goodnight, and hugging his alligator went upstairs.

Superman watched through the ceiling as he climbed into bed, and then turned to Lois. "One of the reasons you had trouble last time was because you always knew how to reach me, and you had to hold back. You had to watch me go about my day and not tell anyone that you knew who I was, or that we were together. You had to pretend to barely know me, and it was too much to bear."

"I can always pretend, or not just pretend, to be married to your other self."

"You can't," Superman said. It sounded so wonderful. He wished with all his heart that she could. He knew that the right thing to say to her was that he wasn't interested in marrying her. That would have hurt her enough to make her back off. But he couldn't bring himself to say these words. "To truly be with you I have to give up all my abilities and become only –" He nearly said Clark and stopped himself at the last minute. "Human."

"But we were together," Lois said. "You told me yourself. Jason's a living proof of that."

"We were," Superman said, a sad note in his voice. He wanted to tell her that to be with her was everything, that he wanted her much more than any of his superhuman abilities. He wanted to tell her that he gladly gave them up to spend the rest of his human life with her. But he didn't. It would only confirm her suspicion that he was still very much in love with her, and then she would never move on. He said nothing.

Lois looked at him, her eyes wide. She understood everything he didn't want to tell her. Her voice was choked. "You gave up your powers for me?"

Superman decided to move the conversation to the point he was trying to make. "I barely got my powers back after General Zod invaded Earth. It proved to me – to both of us – that I could never give up my powers. It was irresponsible towards the people of Earth. And that meant that we could never be together."

"And yet, you left Earth for five years shortly after." Lois had come out of the initial shock and felt the anger surge inside her again. "You're too essential to this planet to be with me, but not essential enough to stay. I even got a Pulitzer for saying the world didn't need you."

"I remember you writing a sequel saying it did," Superman said. "My absence was only temporary. If I gave up my powers again, it would have been for good."

Lois remembered the sheer dread of losing him that had led to her writing that sequel. She didn't know why she'd even brought up the Pulitzer article. Then she realised she had the exact same feeling now. Like she could almost have him. Almost touch him. Almost hold him in her arm. Almost – . And he was slipping away. If only she knew what his secret identity was, he would be forced to take her into his life. Forced to acknowledge his love for her. Then again, she did know his other identity. When he wasn't Superman he was Dr Piers Crispin. She was sure of that. She couldn't wait to see his face as she confronted him the next day.

A tiny smile played on her lips. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said.

Superman nodded. He was to meet her in the office the next morning. For a moment he had forgotten that she wouldn't know it was him. Then he frowned. "Isn't Jason with Richard tomorrow?"

"He is," Lois said, still smiling cryptically. "I'll see _you_ the day after, then."

Superman hovered upstairs to kiss Jason goodnight and then soared into the night sky. For someone who usually allowed himself no margin of error, he'd certainly made plenty of mistakes that evening. Being around Lois did that to him. He sighed and decided to dedicate the rest of the evening for simpler matters. He listened to the Earth beneath him. An explosion resounded through the cold air. He dove quickly towards the sound. That would keep his mind off Lois for a while.

--------------------------------------------------------

Clark had very little sleep that night. He didn't need more than an hour or two of sleep a day, but he didn't even get that. Three huge fires kept Superman busy almost until it was time to go to work. His other work.

Stifling a yawn, Clark sat by his desk to type up an article about what he'd seen, hovering over the fires. All three started with an explosion, exactly the same way as the fire by the gas reservoir three days before. And again, as before, as hard as he tried, Superman could not find what had caused the explosions.

The third one was the weirdest of all. It had burned right at the centre of the Metropolis River. Not on a boat or even driftwood, but over the water itself. Not only that there was nothing in the river that could have triggered the explosion, there shouldn't have been anything to burn, either. And yet, Superman had to fight it for long minutes to prevent it from spreading to the Riverside houses. He had put on a massive fight, of course, as Lois's house was one of those in immediate danger.

Jimmy Olson came behind him, reading over his shoulder. Clark slowed his typing pace and purposely inserted a spelling mistake.

"There's only one 'z' in 'bizarre'", Jimmy said.

"Oh, hello Jimmy," Clark said, deleting the extra 'z' and then turning around. He saw Lois come into the office carrying two cups of orange juice.

"Chief said you were working on the fires from last night," Jimmy said. "He told me to show you these." He gave Clark a few snapshots of each of the fires, and a map of the city, with dots marked on it.

Clark moved the pictures aside and looked at the map. All three dots were in one straight line starting at the east of the Industrial Area and ending in the river. He searched the gas reservoir on the map and added a dot. His hunch didn't pay off. The new mark was not aligned with the others.

"It almost looks like someone wrote the number 1 on the map," Jimmy said enthusiastically.

Clark looked again. "You're r- right," he said.

Jimmy looked scared. "I hope whoever he is doesn't plan to count to 10," he said.

"I don't think Superman would let it go that far," Lois said, joining the conversation. She placed one of the orange juice cups in front of Clark and drank from the other. "Drink up," she told Clark. "This could be a long day."

"Going out on assignment?" Jimmy asked. He grabbed his camera and placed it around his neck.

"Meeting an informer who wishes to remain anonymous," Lois sad. She looked at Clark, daring him to contradict her. "We won't need any pictures."

"Give me half an hour to f- finish this article," Clark said as Jimmy moved away, disappointed.

"I don't want to miss him," Lois said.

Clark looked at his watch. "At s- seven thirty in the morning?"

Lois shrugged. "His shift starts at nine," she said. "I want to watch him when he leaves his house. I want to see what kind of _transportation_ he uses to get to the hospital."

"You think he'll f- fly there?" Clark asked, making a gesture with his hand, imitating a plane taking off. He tried to sound sceptic, but her idea wasn't at all off the mark. That was the method he'd used that morning to get to the Planet on time.

"Would you stand in traffic if you could avoid it?" Lois asked rhetorically. She shook her head. "Half an hour, and then we go." She moved to her desk.

Using his enhanced vision Clark could see her feeding Dr Crispin's schedule into her computer. He turned back to his article. Half an hour was more than he would have needed if there was nobody else around. As it was, the office was beginning to fill. Unfortunately, it would take that long to type at normal speed.

--------------------------------------------------------

Lois was already waiting by the elevators when Clark came out of Perry White's office after handing in his article. She pressed the elevator call button several times when she saw Clark approaching.

Clark felt sorry for her. She would be so disappointed when she found out that this doctor she wanted to follow wasn't going to fly anywhere. But he had no other way he could think of to keep her trail from reaching him. Consumed by guilt, Clark moved to stand in front of the left elevator. He could see through the wall that it was about to reach their floor.

"How did you know this elevator was coming?" Lois asked, pushing past him to get into it.

Clark looked at her, taken aback. Was he going to repeat the mistakes of the previous day? If so, he could save her the time and let her know he was Superman right now. But of course, he couldn't do that. "Just a hunch," he said.

"Like the one you had about the fires last night?" Lois said. "You get a lot of those lately." She tapped her foot and held her finger ready to press the button for the ground level. "Are you coming?"

Lois drove too fast for morning traffic, and Clark thought that if they had an accident and he had saved her, then he wouldn't have to pretend any more. But she managed to park the car in front of Dr Crispin's house at two minutes past eight without crashing it, and Clark got to keep his secret.

"We're too late," Lois said. "The hospital is forty-five minutes drive from here. He probably left already."

Clark lowered his gaze into the house. He could see Dr Crispin still asleep in his bed, snuggling the alarm clock. If he concentrated his hearing in the right direction, he could even hear him snore. "I think he's still in there," he said. "If he's Superman, he wouldn't have to leave the house until a minute to nine."

_And if he keeps snoring, he wouldn't be out even then_, Clark though. He blew a small gust of wind towards the house, and Dr Crispin's bedroom window flew open.

"I think you're right!" Lois called, and then hushed her voice. "He just opened the window. Don't talk so loud. His acute hearing can pick up our voices."

Clark raised his eyebrows at her. He hasn't said a word.

They sat in the car, waiting. Clark listened to the disaster-free world around him and enjoyed the much needed rest after the previous night. Lois kept fidgeting in her seat, looking for things in the glove-compartment, sorting out parking receipts she kept in the ashtray, adjusting the height of the stirring-wheal, the mirrors…

At exactly one minute to nine Dr Crispin came running out of the house.

"You were right!" Lois gasped.

Clark choked down an amused smile that was threatening to erupt.

But when Dr Crispin leaped over the door into his new yellow Porsche, Lois frowned. "What is he doing?" she asked, agitated. "He'll be late! Why is he taking his car?"

She started the engine and pulled out behind him. Her frown eased up a little. "Maybe it's part of his cover. If his car wasn't in the hospital parking, then how would he explain how he got there?" She kept going without waiting for Clark to answer. "But it's not like Superman to be late. I don't know. Maybe he was up all night, busy with something else."

"That, he was," Clark said. He put a hand over his mouth to hide his yawn, and then realised what he'd just told Lois. "The fires," he quickly added. "He was there, fighting them until the wee hours of morning."

"That's right," Lois said, smacking herself in the forehead. "Poor guy. What am I saying? Of course he has a right to be late. He probably didn't have any sleep." Her expression was full of compassion and concern.

Clark looked at her from the corner of his eye, and that urge to kiss her overwhelmed him again. This time he was careful not to break anything.

"He has to be Superman," Lois said after a few minutes of driving silently. "Look at the way he's driving. Only Superman wouldn't worry about getting killed, changing lanes like that." Dr Crispin's car just swerved sharply right in the most dangerous way. Without hesitation, Lois followed.

_Or a madman_, Clark though to himself. "Must be," he said in half-hearted agreement. He sat up, ready to leap into action if any of the cars crashed. His quiet rest was now over, and there was nothing he could do.

**A/N:** Yet another long chapter. This time I decided to move ahead with the plot, even if the characters wanted to stray off a little. And yes, someone in Metropolis is playing "connect the dots". Don't worry. All the plot lines will soon connect, too.

**A/N 2:** And now to the ritual thank-you-s: First and foremost, to my magnificent beta, Majestrix, who did a wonderful job with the previous chapter, both catching my typos and raising a few valid questions. I've sent you this chapter a few days ago, and sadly, I haven't heard from you since. I hope all is well with you. **neko-chibi-faithkitty** – Lots of Mxyzptlk's antics in the next chapter. Hope you'll have fun. I know I did, writing the scene. **red lighting**, **whiteroses12**, **Sunny2006**, **BellaCordelia** – Thank you! **maaike-fluffy** – Well, no history-changing for Luthor, after Mxyzptlk crushed his device, but he's still planning on trying to take over the world. **Rosalie Kay** – It is irksome :), but also a lot of fun. Like watching the story unfold itself in ways you didn't consider before. Thanks! **Kara-El** – Well, I've only watched the movies a few hundred times ;). I hope that now with Majestrix on the team, you'll find less typos. If you find any, let me know, and I'll fix them. **Mr.Firenze** – Thank you for letting me know about your favourite parts. It helps me decide what to write into the next chapters. I've got no idea how to pronounce Mxyzptlk's name. Can barely spell it. And thanks for putting in two reviews!

13


	7. Chapter 7: Deadlier than Kryptonite

**A/N: **Majestrix was forced to resign from beta reading this story, for personal reasons. I hope these personal reasons resolve themselves soon, and in the best way. In the mean time, I'm on the look for a new beta. As a few of you have already figured out, English is not my first language. So, please, even if you don't want to beta, if you find any typos, or grammar mistakes, or words that don't sound exactly right – please let me know in your review. I certainly won't be offended. Improving my English and my writing skills is, for me, the real benefit of writing fanfiction. Well… that and playing in Superman's sandbox… :D

**Chapter 7: Deadlier than Kryptonite**

Dr Crispin drove his yellow Porsche straight through the hospital gate, flashing his permanent pass at the guard. By the time Lois took a parking ticket and advanced towards the main building, the Porsche was already parked diagonally on two places, deprived of its owner.

Lois quickly found a free parking space and led the way into the building, through the elevator, to Dr Crispin's office on the fifth floor.

As they stepped out of the elevator, Dr Crispin came towards them. Lois tried to dodge him, but he'd already seen her.

"Hello Ms Lane!" he called warmly, waving at her. "I didn't know Jason had an appointment today." He stepped closer to them as Lois reluctantly moved in his direction. "I think that with my treatment, Jason is doing a lot better lately."

Lois wondered why he would put the improvement on the treatment. Being his father, Superman would know that Jason was getting better for same reasons he was also becoming stronger and faster. But then again, Superman wasn't in his red and blue costume. He was playing Dr Crispin now, and wasn't supposed to know anything about that. She decided to play along.

"Yes, he's doing much better thanks to _you_," she said. "I'm not here with Jason. I'm here on assignment." And then added, "Highly confidential assignment."

"Oh, really?" Dr Crispin whispered, looking intrigued. "What's the assignment?"

Lois searched quickly for something to tell him, but Clark beat her to it. "We really can't discuss it," he said.

"Oh really?" Dr Crispin repeated his previous words, but his tone now was harsh, and his chin set. He crossed his arms over his chest and drew himself to his full height of six foot four. He had no trouble towering over Clark, who seemed to hunch even more than his usual.

His arms across his chest, the awe-striking posture – they were all so familiar. He wasn't much of an actor, now that Lois knew what to look for. "You know you look a lot like Superman?" she blurted out before she could stop herself. Holding her breath, she waited for his response.

He wasn't taken aback by her comment, on the contrary. He practically beamed, his smile showing perfect white teeth. "I've been told before," he said. "I even played a little with the idea of wearing my hair like this –" He pulled his hair back from his forehead, and then released a single blond lock from the bundle and let it fall to his eyes.

Lois looked up into his fully exposed face and felt her heart drop in her chest. This wasn't Superman. How could she have ever thought that he was? There was no warmth coming from him. In fact, she could feel chilliness flowing from his silk lavender shirt and grey cashmere suit. Every average man would feel warmer. Even Clark beside her radiated more warmth than he did.

And his eyes. They were the entirely wrong shade of blue. They lacked the depth of Superman's dark ocean colour. And the look in them. He was so smug. So pleased with himself. He just couldn't be the man she loved.

Still, Lois's hand moved on its own, as if she was possessed, and gingerly yanked on his nose, which she now knew wasn't false.

"Yeah, I know," Dr Crispin said, rubbing his nose, which had reddened ever so slightly. "There is some difference in the built of the nose. Superman's nose is much too short. Poor chap. With all that invulnerability thing he probably can't get a decent plastic surgery."

Lois was too shocked, too upset to speak. She just nodded.

--------------------------------------------------------

"Superman has two weaknesses," Luthor said.

Mr Mxyzptlk sat on his desk and listened. Luthor had made him sit with his head lower or on the same level with his own. Luthor had no problem looking up to superior beings, even grovelling to them. But he didn't consider Mxyzptlk his superior. On the contrary. The imp might have the ability to do things that looked nothing short of magic, and which he put down to advance fifth dimensional science, but when it came to their minds… well, it was clear who was superior to whom.

"His first weakness is Kryptonite, which I happen to have." Luthor felt the piece of Kryptonite in his pocket, the edge of the sharp shred he had used to stab Superman. He always carried this piece close to him. He even had a special place for it in the bathroom.

"Technically it could kill him, but somehow he always manages to wriggle his way out of death's claws. His second weakness is much worse. It's his –" Luthor considered which word to use. "_Family_."

"Do they want to kill him, too?" Mxyzptlk asked, a broad smile on his face.

"No," Luthor said, not smiling at all. "But _he_ will kill _himself_ to save them."

"OK," Mxyzptlk said. "And then we can start having fun?"

"Oh, we can have some fun right now," Luthor said. "Do you think you can get us to Lois Lane's desk in the Daily Planet's building without anyone seeing us?"

Instead of giving an answer, Mxyzptlk snapped his fingers.

Luthor stood up as the scene changed around him. He found himself standing in a vast newsroom, large desks piled with papers all around him. To his left was Lois Lane's desk. He could recognise it by the picture of Jason that stood in its corner. Lois herself was nowhere to be seen.

Unfortunately, Mxyzptlk thought it would be funny to take Luthor's words literally. While nobody saw them standing there, they certainly felt their presence, or at least their effect. The people in the newsroom didn't see them because they could see absolutely nothing. Mxyzptlk had rendered them all blind.

Panicked shouts were heard all over the newsroom as people realised they had just lost their eyesight. The people felt their way around the room, bumping into each other and into Luthor as they searched desperately for something or someone that would help them.

Mxyzptlk sat hovering in the air just above their heads, clapping his hands. "You were right!" he said. "This is fun!"

"No, this is not fun," Luthor said coldly. He took a deep breath. With this imp's help he would achieve everything he ever wanted, but it would take all the patience he could find in himself. "Now, revert them, and make sure they don't suspect there was anything out of the ordinary. And also make sure they don't notice us or what we are doing. And don't –" He caught Mxyzptlk's foot and dragged him down to his eyelevel. "don't turn them into witless zombies."

Mxyzptlk grumbled, "Party pooper." But despite his objection, everything in the room seemed to return to normal. Several people appeared to be slightly hazed at first, but soon they returned to their daily routine, as if nothing had happened.

"Password protected," Luthor said, looking at the screen of Lois's computer. He sat down in her chair and looked harshly at Mxyzptlk, who immediately hovered lower to match his height. "You think you can give me the password?"

Mxyzptlk looked at the screen with a wide smile on his face. "Too easy," he said. He pointed into the air and one by one gleaming letter appeared, spelling the word "SUPERMAN".

"I could have figured that one myself," Luthor snorted. He typed in the password and got into the system.

"What are we looking for, anyway?" Mxyzptlk asked.

"Lois Lane's schedule," Luthor said. "I want to know when she picks up her son, and where. I want to, eh, _surprise_ them during the daytime, when Superman is less active." He opened the scheduler and then frowned. "That's interesting. She's dedicated the entire day to someone called Dr Piers Crispin. And her comments mention something to do with Superman. Let's see what else she has here about him."

Three more files on Lois's computer contained Dr Crispin's name, but Luthor only opened one. There was no need to see the rest. The first file was a slightly edited picture.

--------------------------------------------------------

It took Lois a moment to collect herself, and then she pulled Clark by the arm towards the elevators. When an elevator failed to appear immediately, she continued to pull him towards the staircase. She descended two flights of stairs before Clark managed to stop her and turn her towards him.

"Lois, what's wrong?" Clark asked. He didn't know what he had expected to see, but it certainly wasn't this. Her face was a mask of anger and hurt. "Just because his nose didn't come off, it doesn't mean – "

"It's not him," she cut him off sharply.

Clark felt that if it weren't for his invulnerability, the fire in her eyes would have burned him. Without thinking he reached out both his hands and held her arms gently. This was all the cue she needed. Lois collapsed sobbing onto his shoulder.

Clark felt a pang of guilt build up in his chest. _He_ was the reason Lois was so upset. He could make her feel so much better if he just told her…

Supporting Lois's shaking form with his left hand, Clark reached up his right and took off his glasses.

Lois still didn't look up.

"Lois, I'm – " Clark began. His deep voice resonated in the narrow stairwell. There was none of Clark's regular nasal effect in it.

Lois heaved a tearful breath into his chest, letting him know that she'd heard him.

A million thoughts hit Clark's brain like the strike of lightning. Lois was upset now, but she'll get over it quickly. She'll forget her disappointment and move on to the next idea, to her next story. But how would she be able to move on if she knew who he was? How would she be able to write any of the Superman's stories she was so famous for if she knew he was standing right next to her? If she thought he could be reading it over her shoulder? How would she function at all if she cried herself to sleep every night? This was the reason he had taken her memory five years before. This was the reason he couldn't tell her he was Superman. Not now, not ever. He put his glasses back where they belonged, the cold metal stinging against his skin.

"You're what?" Lois asked, waiting for him to complete the sentence.

"I'm sorry," Clark replied. And he was.

--------------------------------------------------------

**A/N 2:** Ah, it's the second time the reviewing system crashes right after I upload a chapter. So special thanks to those of you who took the extra time to come back and review after the system was up again. Oh, and I didn't realise there were also a few reviews on Metropolisfic, so I apologise to those who bothered to review there and didn't get mentioned in the previous chapters. **AviVega:** Thank you! I hope this chapter brought you more giggles. **htbthomas:** Thank you for the reviews and the interesting dialog. I suspect that the reviewing system crashed when you uploaded a chapter of "déjà vu" – the traffic it must have brought! ;) **DragonFlame27:** It was really nice of you to take the time to check things up for me. Thanks! **whiteroses12:** Thank you, and if you find typos, let me know. I'd like to correct them (see the previous A/N). **red lighting:** You were the first to review this story, and you've reviewed every chapter since, even when you weren't sure what to say. I really appreciate it. **Angel452:** Heh, every time I read your reviews I feel an evil grin forming up… **TiggerLily130:** Thank you for letting me know what you liked best. I try to keep up with the things you mention. **Mrs. St. John Allerdyce**, **PhoebeADA:** Thank you! **Arwyn T:** Wow, you've hit one of the points that's most important to me – staying true to the original characters. I'm glad you noticed it!


	8. Chapter 8: Pawn to E4

**A/N:** Thank you very much to LostSchizophrenic for beta-reading – not only this chapter, but also every chapter I uploaded so far (revised version will soon be up). This time I didn't only get a great beta, but I also discovered a wonderful story LostSchizophrenic wrote, which I wouldn't have read just by the summary. Decomposing Right Before Your Very Eyes is a beautifully written, poetry-like short view of SR through the eyes of various characters. Go ahead – read, enjoy, and don't forget to review. Everybody loves a nice review ;).

**Chapter 8: Pawn to E4**

Lois strode into the news room with angry determination. She was still upset about Dr Crispin, but now the initial surprise has turned into fierce resolve. She _was_ going to find Superman if it killed her. "Jimmy!" she called the photographer she had spotted half the way across the newsroom. "Do you have the list I asked you to compile?"

Clark looked at her, frowning. This was exactly what he feared would happen if she found out too quickly that Dr Crispin wasn't Superman, which she did. "What list?" he asked.

"This list," Lois said, spreading the papers Jimmy had given her on the desk. "A list of all men between twenty and forty who moved to metropolis in the last three months, sorted by height."

Lois crumbled the first three pages into a ball and tossed it into her paper bin, then she picked up the remaining two pages. "These men are at least six foot two." She counted the names. "Thirty six. I think we can scratch out two. That leaves us thirty four men to check."

"Why two?" Clark asked. "Did you check anyone except Dr Crispin?"

"Are you Superman?" Lois asked.

Clark was taken aback. "W- What?"

"Didn't think so," Lois said. "So I think we can safely cross your name from the list." She put a thick line over the two names and then turned to her computer. "Let's see if we can find any pictures that will save us some time."

Once Lois typed in her password, the monitor lit up, showing Superman's picture, edited to look like Dr Crispin. "Jimmy," she asked, a worried note in her voice. "Did anyone work on my computer?"

"Nobody went near it," Jimmy said. "Why?"

"Probably nothing," Lois said, shaking her head. She must have opened the file herself and forgotten about it.

Beside her, Clark seemed to tense.

--------------------------------------------------------

Only fourteen names remained on the list after Lois managed to dig up pictures of all the others. The first was a Mark Harris, 34, height six foot four. He had arrived at Metropolis a month earlier. Jimmy could find no record of him before then.

At first, Lois was worried about there being no record of a Mark Harris in Metropolis before Superman had left, but then she reassured herself that even if Superman had used a secret identity five years ago, he must have adopted a new one with his return. It would have been stupid of him to use the same identity as before. She consulted Clark on the matter, and he had to agree. This time she had him. She was sure of it.

Unfortunately, while Mr Harris fit the description perfectly, his face looked like it'd been chewed by a mouse stricken with rabies. He must have had the worst recorded case of acne, back in his teen years.

Roger Atkins, the next on the list, had his leg in a cast, and by the looks of it, he had it there for a while. Jeremy Gil was so thin that he couldn't fill up his size-small shirt, not to mention Superman' no-room-for-the-imagination outfit. Tony Eggent, on the other hand, could easily fill two.

Six O'clock found Lois and Clark sitting in the car in front of Sheldon Morris's house, waiting for him to come home. Lois was no longer sure that this time she had found Superman. She just wished that this guy would be less of a disaster that the previous four.

"About dinner," Clark said.

"Oh, Clark, I'm sorry," Lois said. "I forgot all about dinner. Did you make reservations?"

"I've cancelled them four hours ago," Clark replied with a smile. He had called the restaurant during a short toilet break, which he had actually used to stop a robbery in progress. Five times he had to step out of the car during the day to offer assistance with some crisis or another. Lois was beginning to suspect he was suffering from a food poisoning. "I just wanted to tell you not to worry about it. I'll get us some takeaway when we're done. We can have a proper dinner some other time."

Lois smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Clark," she said, touching his arm. "You really are a good friend."

--------------------------------------------------------

Lois and Clark eliminated two more names from the list first thing in the following morning, before stepping together into the news room. Now there were only six names left, and Lois was beginning to lose hope. The previous evening they had watched the houses of "Superman suspects" until it was obvious that they had all gone to sleep. Only then did Lois agree to go home and allow Clark to bring them something to eat. He had brought Italian. From Rome.

"Maybe S- Superman doesn't even live in Metropolis," Clark said. "It's not like he needs to commute to get here."

"I'm beginning to think that you might be right," Lois said. Her eyes suddenly grew wide as she looked at something behind Clark. "Dr Crispin! What are you doing here?"

Dr Crisping approached them. He looked flustered. His locks of blond hair were wild, and there were black bags under his eyes.

"Is everything all right?" Lois asked, concern in her voice.

"No, not really," Dr Crispin said. "I know you write all these articles about Superman. I need you to call him. It's very important."

"I can't call Superman," Lois said quickly. "I wish I could."

Clark stepped in. "Why do you need to contact Superman?"

"He needs to leave Earth," Dr Crispin said. "Right now."

"What? Why?" Lois asked while leading him into an empty office. "He's not leaving again!"

"He has to," Dr Crispin said. "Or I'm dead."

"That- that's," Clark began, but he wasn't sure what he wanted to say. Did he want to tell Dr Crispin that his life was important, but that there were more lives at stake? That he would never again leave Lois and Jason? Clark stood dumbfounded in front of the terrified doctor.

Lois, on the other hand, had plenty of words for him. "Superman can't make such a gigantic move just because of one man!" she said. Anyway, why do you think you'll die if Superman doesn't leave Earth?"

"Because _he_ said so."

"Who?" Both Lois and Clark asked together.

"Lex Luthor."

Clark shook his head. This couldn't be happening again. He had scanned the ocean far and wide after he had left the hospital, and there was so sign of Luthor anywhere. Clark had hoped that his helicopter had crashed somewhere around the continent he had tried to create. This hope grew to a near belief with every day Luthor had not been accounted for. "Where have you seen Luthor?" he asked, grabbing Dr Crispin by his collar.

"Clark, relax." Lois put a calming hand on his arm, making his muscles unwind only slightly.

"He came to see me yesterday, a few hours after you left," Dr Crispin said. "He had this crazy-looking magician with him. Everything Lex Luthor said, this magician made it happen." He leaned over and whispered his next words, as if they were the most embarrassing secret he had. "They made me hang from the ceiling. Upside down, _feet stuck to the ceiling_!"

"Did they tell you why they came to you, of all people?" Clark asked.

"Yes they did," Dr Crispin said. He looked angrily at Lois who stared fixedly at him, shaking and pale. "Luthor said that he knew I was Superman. He also said that if I – if Superman didn't leave Earth within twenty-four hours, they'll finish what they had started two months ago – killing the love of my life and my son, and then killing me."

"So someone did use my computer yesterday," Lois muttered to herself. "Lex Luthor."

Dr Crispin panted heavily, wringing his hands. "I don't even have a son. And I don't know which love they meant! There are several –" he looked at Lois, who seemed flustered. "I mean – it's not like I really love any of them – that is – Oh! Please help me!" His last words were a pitiful whine.

"Of course we'll help you," Clark said, not sounding very comforting.

"How?" Lois said, making Dr Crisping stare at her with terror in his eyes. "Do you have any way of contacting Superman?"

"You have to!" Dr Crispin said, hanging to the front of Clark's jacket. "I only have a few hours left to live!"

Clark looked at Lois. If the situation hadn't been so grave, he would have had a hard time controlling his laughter. "I thought y– you know how to contact him. You always seem to find him when you need to."

"Oh, I just go up to the roof and wait," Lois said. "Sometimes he shows up and sometimes he doesn't. I have no idea what makes him come when he does."

Clark's head was throbbing. So much bad news in quick succession. Luthor was still alive, and aligned with a magical creature. That was about the most horrible news he could have imagined, but it got even worse. Luthor knew about Jason. He knew about his son. And he threatened to kill both him and Lois. While he could try to convince Lois that he didn't love her any more, there was no fooling Luthor. The evil monster knew exactly where to hit where it hurt most. Clark couldn't let anything happen to them.

For a moment, Clark considered taking Lois and Jason to the Fortress of Solitude until he got Luthor behind bars, but Luthor had been to this northern haven. He knew how to get there, and it would probably be the first place he'd search if they disappeared. Clark also had to consider the possibility that this was one battle he couldn't win. What if he lost and Luthor actually managed to kill him? Lois and Jason would be stranded with no food and no way of returning to civilisation. They would die, too.

Then, there was this doctor, who was still hanging to the lapels of his suit. He had involuntarily found himself in the middle of a battlefield, between Luthor and himself. Not a pleasant place to be to any mortal. And in some way, it was Clark's fault. If he hadn't tried to turn Lois's search away from him, Luthor would never have suspected that Dr Crispin was Superman. Clark felt that he had to protect him, too.

"I think you should stay with me at my place," Clark told Dr Crispin eventually.

"Oh, no – no." Dr Crispin shook his head vigorously. "I'm getting on the first flight out of the country. With that lunatic on the loose – I'm not staying in Metropolis. Just – if you see Superman, tell him what I said. I'll be back as soon as Superman catches Luthor." He turned towards the door. "Or the other way around. Whatever." And with these words, he left.

--------------------------------------------------------

Lex Luthor was trying to forge bullets when the light bulb over his head blew up.

"Will you knock it off?" Luthor yelled at Mxyzptlk, who zoomed across the darkened room, a slingshot in his hand, looking for his next target.

"Can't help it," Mxyzptlk said. "I'm bored."

"Then go get me another piece of Kryptonite from the ocean," Luthor said. "And replace the bulb before you go."

"You already have all the Kryptonite you can use," Mxyzptlk complained. "And anyway, you told me I'd be keeping Superman busy tonight, when you make your move. Why do you need all this Kryptonite?"

"Plan for the best, prepare for the worst," Luthor said. "Now go get."

Mxyzptlk zoomed out of sight.

"The light!" Luthor yelled after him.

The lights came on a second after Mxyzptlk was gone.

"How many fifth dimensional imps do you need to change a light bulb?" Luthor said to the empty room. "No-one? Well, that's easy. None. If there aren't any imps, there would be no need to change the bulb." He chuckled to himself and returned to the bullets. A green hue hovered over his work.

--------------------------------------------------------

Lois still felt shaky an hour after Dr Crispin had left. She knew that she and Jason were the targets Luthor had talked about. She considered going up to the roof in the hope that Superman would come, so she could warn him – consult with him. But she had never seen Superman before nightfall, unless she was in serious trouble. She was in serious trouble now, but he didn't know about it. So he would probably not come.

Clark seemed almost as troubled as she was by the news. At least he seemed troubled for a few minutes. Then he decided to leave the office to take care of his dry cleaning, of all things.

Lois sighed and began shuffling the papers on her desk, not sure what she was looking for. Although she had a reputation for being an intrepid reporter, she couldn't concentrate on her work. Then a folded note fell to the floor. Lois picked it up and looked inside. Despite her bleak mood, she had to smile. It read:

"I'll come over right after you pick Jason up from School. Until then, I'm keeping an eye on the both of you."

It was signed, "A Friend".

Clark hadn't returned by the time Lois needed to leave the office to get Jason. Lois tried to get him on the phone, but there was no answer. She was beginning to suspect he had more than just laundry on his task list. But there was nothing she could do about it now. She had bigger problems to worry about.

Jason was thrilled to find out they were going home instead of to the Planet. The only time he remembered spending the afternoon with his mother on a weekday was when they were on Luthor's ship, and that didn't count. He was even more thrilled when Superman landed on the front porch just as they were parking the car.

Lois unlocked the door and sent a very reluctant Jason upstairs before speaking. "You know?" she asked.

"Yes," Superman said gravely. "We need to figure out a way to protect the two of you." He took a deep breath and looked down. "If this is the only way to keep you safe, then I'll leave this planet and never return." He stood perfectly still, as if frozen in time.

Tears began forming in Lois's eyes. She ignored everything Superman had said to her about not being able to be with her, and stepped forward to lean against his broad chest. He accepted her with welcoming arms, encircling her body and wrapping her with his warmth.

"I won't let you leave, no matter the reason," Lois whispered, her lips next to his bright 'S' shield. She knew that even though she could barely hear herself, he understood every word.

"Lois, I can't let you get hurt," Superman said. He broke the embrace and began pacing the room. Lois noticed that while his legs moved in perfect coordination, his feet didn't quite touch the ground.

"But you'll leave thousands of others who need your help?" Lois shouted. She was angry. Not only because she felt he shouldn't give up so easily, but mainly because he was giving it all up for her. She couldn't be the reason Superman left the Earth again. She refused to be that reason.

Superman put his hand on her cheek, and Lois leaned into it. "You are – " he began softly, and then stopped suddenly. He stepped back from her, letting his hand drop. "Jason is my son. I have to protect him at all costs."

"I see," Lois said coldly. "In that case, you'd better teach your _son_ everything he needs to know before you abandon him." She turned to face the staircase and shouted for Jason to come down.

"I'm not leaving just yet," Superman said. "I'll try to stop Luthor some other way, first. This is why I'm here now. To keep an eye on you. Luthor's ultimatum expired about an hour ago. If he comes here, I'll be waiting for him."

Lois just remembered something. "Clark," she said. "The guy I work with. I think he went to look for Luthor. He's been gone since around noon, and I'm worried about him. He doesn't answer his phone."

Superman turned to look beyond the front door. "Ring him again," he told Lois, and she obeyed. She wondered if he would be able to single out Clark in the middle of Metropolis just by the sound of his phone. That was beyond what she thought he could do.

A moment later Superman turned to her, a compassionate smile on his face. "Clark is fine," he said. "Don't worry about him. We need to think about you and Jason now." As he said that, Jason came down the stairs and stood by his side.

--------------------------------------------------------

The best way to work on speed would have been to go out to an isolated open field and just run as fast and as far as they wanted to. However, tonight Superman was reluctant to leave Lois on her own, even if he was just a heartbeat away.

So they did the next best thing. They played _Speed_.

At first, Lois insisted on taking a part in the cards game, but she was soon convinced to watch them play from a safe distance, to allow them to push their speed to its limit. It wasn't that Superman was concerned that Lois would get upset if she lost. On the rare occasions she did, he even found her tirade endearing. He was worried that putting their hearts into the game, either he or Jason could accidentally break her hand.

Jason's speed was still nowhere near that of Superman, but it was more than any human could ever hope to achieve. He needed to learn how not to use it when there were other people around. After several hours of playing, he still had trouble controlling this new ability, especially when he was excited – close to winning the game, for example. Superman knew Jason would need to work quite a bit more before this issue is handled. He just hoped he'd have the opportunity to work on it with him.

They played the entire afternoon, until it was time for Dinner. Twice Superman heard cries for help, and was torn between his desire to protect the people he loved and the need to help strangers in trouble. Luckily for him, on both occasions, the police arrived at the scene before any real damage was done – before he had to make up his mind.

Superman toyed with the idea of bringing them a pampering dinner, like he had done as Clark, but decided that it wasn't worth the risk of leaving them on their own even for mere few minutes. It was beginning to dawn on him that he couldn't stay with them forever, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind. As much as he dreaded Luthor's plan, he hoped that whatever Luthor had in stored for them would happen while he was still there.

And then he heard an explosion.

"What is it?" Lois asked.

Superman looked at her, realising that involuntarily, his muscles had tensed. "An explosion," he said. "By the sound of it, it started another large fire." His expression was tortured. He kneeled in front of Jason, not wanting to leave any more than Jason wanted him to go. "I have to go help the fire fighters," he said. "If I stay here, there are people who could get hurt."

Jason nodded, his eyes fixed on the floor.

"Where?" Lois asked urgently.

Superman stood up and turned to her. His expression turned to determination, as it always did before he took off to handle a crisis. Even his shoulders seemed broader, as if ready to carry the weight of the world.

Jason jumped in. "Don't tell her!"

Superman smiled at him. "I wasn't going to," he said. He strode towards the window and then stopped and turned back to Jason. "Take care of your mommy. Don't worry," he added in Lois's direction. "I'll keep an eye on you two." With a blur of red and blue he was gone, and only the fluttering curtains were a silent testimony that he'd ever been there.

--------------------------------------------------------

**A/N 2:** Just to give you a "heads up" – I'll be away for a few days, so the next instalment will be slightly delayed. Well, more time for you to review…

**A/N 3:** Thank you very much to all of you who reviewed the previous chapter. This time I chose to thank each of you personally. If you find the 'review reply' annoying, let me know, and I won't send you any more messages. Oh, and if you didn't get the reply, also let me know, so I _will_ send you more messages…


	9. Chapter 9: Green Bullets

**Warning! Warning!** Major cliffhanger at the end of this chapter. If you can't take the tension, wait until the next chapter is up before you read beyond this point.

**Chapter 9: Green Bullets**

Superman soared up into the sky before heading towards the fire. He watched the city spread beneath him, using his X-Ray vision to look through the clouds. He wished to find a pattern in the fires that had taken over Metropolis and had dominated his nights. He found none. If Jimmy's suspicions were right, and whoever was causing the fires was writing digits in flames, this meant nothing. Whoever it was could have just set the cornerstone for a new number.

The lucky strike the city had had with the first four fires had run out. This time the initial explosion occurred in an apartment building, in the middle of a densely populated area. There were people trapped under the rubble, and the fire threatened many more.

Superman dove quickly, using the few fractions of a second he had on the way to calculate where his special abilities would bring the most help. He chose a corner at the south-east side of the fire, where the flames already began to lick the adjacent building. The only advantage of having the fire in the midst of an urban area was that Superman could use his mighty lungs to blow at it without the fear of spreading it further.

After removing the threat to the buildings around, Superman began lifting away the largest pieces of rubble that prevented the rescue teams from reaching the survivors, and unfortunately, the dead bodies.

Without meaning to, Superman counted them. Seventeen killed. A hundred and eighty-seven injured.

These numbers nearly caused Superman to halt in mid-air with grief, but then he heard a mighty crash, and a large wall that had somehow remained standing until then began to collapse. Superman tore through the wall, whirling around it at top speed, punching and kicking. The huge piece of brick and concrete was reduced to pebbles, which fell on the helmets of rescuers under it in an unpleasant, yet harmless rain. Three rescue teams were saved. That was little comfort to Superman, in view of the devastation, but it was still a comfort.

The rescue efforts continued for long minutes, and all the while Superman's thoughts were with Lois and Jason. He hated leaving them in such grave danger, but he couldn't sacrifice the lives of everyone in Metropolis just to guard the ones he loved most. Every few seconds Superman ventured a look in their direction, making sure they were still safe and alone.

Almost all the wounded were evacuated from the rubble when a second explosion tore through the night sky. Its deafening sound drowning the racket of the on-going rescue efforts. The policemen, the fire-fighters, the paramedics, even the wounded all became very still for a moment. Only Superman, who was hauling an injured woman when the explosion hit, continued gently carrying her to safety.

As Superman landed near an ambulance, the driver seemed to snap out of his state of shock. "Go," he told Superman. "We've got things here under control. They may need you there."

--------------------------------------------------------

Again, Superman decided to examine things from a bird's-eye view before diving into the midst of the action. He watched the explosion sight and the ensuing fire from above. It was in a natural forest just north of the city. It was sad, but at least no lives were in immediate danger. That was very good, because Superman finally found a pattern.

The two fires that started that night created a straight line exactly parallel to the line the previous fires had marked on Metropolis's map.

Superman allowed the fire-fighters to handle the new flames on their own, and darted towards where he anticipated the third fire of that night would be. He remained at high altitude, scanning the surface beneath him, stretching his visual capabilities to their limit, but paying little attention to the sky around him. And then something hit him hard in the chest.

Superman spun once before stabilising himself and looking for what had collided into him. His first thought was that he had accidentally invaded a large airliner's flight route, but that was impossible. Even with his concentration elsewhere, he would have heard the loud noise of the engines nearing him. Just in case, he scanned the skies beneath him. No sign of a crashing plane.

Then what was it? There weren't many things in this world that could throw Superman out of balance. Then again, a magical creature could easily affect him. And there was one sitting in mid-air to Superman's right.

"Looking for me?" the little man asked.

Except for the devilish smile on his lips, the imp didn't give off the impression of being dangerous. He wore a suit that could have been ancient if it weren't for its bright orange and purple colours, and a funny looking purple hat on his semi-bald head. Of course, the fact that he had just collided into Superman without any seeming affect on his general well-being, and the fact that he was obviously capable of self-contained flight, said something about the real danger he was posing. An of course, there were the fires he had almost certainly started.

"You're the magical creature Dr Crispin described," Superman said. It was unlikely that two different all-powerful beings appeared in Metropolis at about the same time. "You work with Lex Luthor."

"Very nice façade," the imp said. "Keep up the pretence that you and old Piers are two different people." He stood up, stretching his hands behind his back and wearing an expression of self-importance. This seriousness fit him even less than the ridiculous hat on his head, and he almost immediately cracked up, laughing.

"It's not pretence," Superman said. "You've got the wrong man."

When the imp looked doubtful, Superman decided to let the issue rest for the moment. Saving Dr Crispin was important, but there were other, more pressing issues at hand. "Who are you?" he asked. "Why did you start the fires?"

"Mister Mxyzptlk, at your service," the imp said, flipping twice through the air. "Well, not really at your service. It's just a figure of speech. And I'm not magical. I'm a serious scientist from what you would call the fifth dimension. Our science is highly advanced. I imagine it _would_ look like magic to you."

"What would a serious scientist be doing in this dimension, starting fires?" Superman asked.

"Oh, you figured me out?" Mxyzptlk screwed up his face. "Well, no matter. You're actually right. I _am_ considered somewhat of a prankster back in my dimension, so they don't let me do all the research I want. But I don't have that kind of problem here. The science I bring with me is so advanced, nothing can stop me!"

Superman stared fixedly into the imp's mocking eyes. "You can be sure that I _will_ find a way to stop you."

"You think so?" Mxyzptlk said, zooming around Superman. "The only way anything in this dimension can stop me is by sending me back to my own dimension, and the only way that's going to happen is if I say or write my name backwards. Since I'm not going to do it, then I suppose it means you'll have to get used to having me around."

"How do you spell your name?" Superman asked.

"Ah, you'll know soon enough," Mxyzptlk said. "I'm writing it down as we speak." He pointed at the flames rising from the forest fire. "You see? The 'M' is almost finished. Seven more letters to go"

"You're setting fire to Metropolis to write your name?" Superman said, aghast.

Mxyzptlk pumped up his chest and raised his chin, trying to look important. "I will have my name written down in history books." His serious posture wore quickly down, and he looked like a small ridiculous man again. "Or an atlas." He resumed his frantic zooming and somersaulting around Superman. "Whatever."

Superman thought quickly, and then an idea came to him. He smiled, and leaned back, calmly folding his arms over his chest. "Then I don't have to do anything. You'll be gone shortly."

"What do you mean?" Mxyzptlk asked, stopping his movements to look at Superman.

"The maps of the city are a mirror image of the city itself. If you write your name in fire, you'll actually be writing your mane backwards in all the city maps."

"Ooh!" Mxyzptlk cried, grimacing, but then his expression cleared. "In that case," he said, "I'll just have to start the fires in locations that will spell a mirror image of my name, and this way my name will appear forwards on the maps. Ha! I'm betting you didn't think of that!"

Superman did his best to appear disappointed. Mxyzptlk was right about one thing: he didn't actually think the solution would be so simple. The maps obviously weren't a mirror image of the city. He had just said that in hope that it would make the imp stop the fires. Of course that would have left him free to wreck havoc in some other way. But this solution was the best Superman could hope for. If Superman could not think of a quicker way to stop him, within a few days the imp would write his name backwards on Metropolis and send himself back to his dimension, in a chariot of fire, so to speak.

Mxyzptlk pointed at a warehouse in direct line with the two fires of the evening. "Well, time for work," he said, and the warehouse exploded, sending long tongues of fire outwards.

Superman sped towards Mxyzptlk to stop him from starting another fire, but before he reached his destination the imp was gone, and so was the world around him.

--------------------------------------------------------

Lex Luthor was parking his car next to Lois's house when Mxyzptlk appeared on the seat next to him.

"I thought I told you to keep Superman busy," Luthor growled.

"Oh, he is _very_ busy," Mxyzptlk said. "And also very far away. You have all the time in the world to get his family. He won't bother us. We don't need to rush."

"Of course we do," Luthor said, opening the car door. "And don't think this means I don't trust you, but, well, I don't. Will you hand me the gun? I put it on the seat next to me. Oh, what do you know? You happen to be sitting on it!"

Mxyzptlk hovered a few inches up and pulled the gun from underneath him. "So this is what was stuck in my – ah – well, it wasn't very comfortable." He lowered himself back into the vacant seat. "Much better!"

"Will you get out of the car already?" Luthor hissed. "I really don't want to waste any time."

"Why didn't you say so?" Mxyzptlk said. As the words came out the scene around him changed to the living room inside Lois Lane's house.

Luthor tried to stable himself, caught off guard with the change. He recognised the place, but before he could yell at Mxyzptlk for failing to warn him before taking him in, an iron pan hit him full in the face.

--------------------------------------------------------

Twelve fires erupted that night in the Metropolis area. Eight of them in open areas, causing severe damages to natural forests and wild life. The four others cost lives.

Fire-fighter John Harrison was at his fifth location of the night. It felt to him like he was Don Quixote, fighting a battle doomed from the very beginning. From what he heard on the emergency radio system, his colleagues were doing just as poorly. He had seen Superman at the first fire sight, but had not seen him since.

In the few months since Superman had returned to Earth, they had all come to rely on him to help when things got bad. Well, things didn't get any worse than this. Fire-fighter John Harrison hoped with all his heart that Superman hadn't decided to leave them again. That would be the worst possible timing he could have chosen.

--------------------------------------------------------

A blazing light blinded Superman's eyes. At first he thought that Mxyzptlk had done something so he couldn't see him take off. Then a quick glance around him told Superman that the imp had definitely done something, but taking off was the least of it.

Superman was hovering in space, a few thousand kilometers above the hydrogen flames of the sun.

Mxyzptlk had probably intended to get Superman out of the way, but he had made one grave mistake. Superman had never felt this good before in his life. Being so close to the sun, to the source of his power, filled every cell in his body with solar energy to a level Superman didn't know was possible. His cape caught on fire, but he didn't bother to put it out. He simply turned into the vacuum of space.

It took the light from the sun eight minutes to reach the Earth. Superman reached it in nine.

--------------------------------------------------------

Lex Luthor felt a hand hitting his left cheek, and then his right, and then his left again. He caught the hand and twisted it harshly before opening his eyes. His head felt like it had been hit with – well, it _had_ been hit with cast iron.

"Ouch!" Mxyzptlk cried, releasing his arm from Luthor's grip. "Look what I've done for you, while you were taking a nap!" he pointed to the corner of the room.

Lois and Jason were sitting on chairs, back to back. Their hands tied behind their backs.

"Anything else I can do for you?" Mxyzptlk said smugly.

"You can take away this awful headache," Luthor said, holding his head.

"Done," Mxyzptlk said.

Even before Mxyzptlk spoke, the painful cloud in Luthor's head cleared. He felt that he might have underestimated the imp, but he said nothing about it, not even 'thank you'. Instead, he fumbled in his pocket for the kryptonite necklace he had made for Jason and ordered Mxyzptlk to place it around the boy's neck.

The impact was immediate. Jason became suddenly pale, and the rope around his hand, which he had fought against earlier, became the only thing that kept him from falling off his chair. If Luthor had any doubt about the identity of the boy's father, it was gone. And that meant he was also right about the importance of Lois Lane in Superman's life. He was sure the overgrown boy-scout wouldn't just have a child with every other girl he met. That was the do-gooder's downfall. And with it, Luthor hit the jackpot.

Luthor walked around the room to stand in front of Lois Lane. "Get up," he told her. "We're leaving."

"Lex Luthor," Lois said. Her voice was full of disgust, but there was a slight tone of scorn in it, which left Luthor baffled. "If you think I'm going to cooperate with you, you must be crazier than I imagined."

"Oh, you can stay here if you'd like," Luthor said. He turned from her to Mxyzptlk. "Take the boy."

"No!" Lois cried and jumped to her feet.

"You see?" Luthor said, as if talking to a child. "You do want to come with us."

Involuntarily, Lois looked towards the ceiling.

"Looking for someone?" Luthor asked venomously. "The boy's father, perhaps? I'm afraid he's not coming. My friend here saw to that. Too bad, though. I almost wanted to finish him off right away." He waved his gun in front of Lois and flipped it once around his finger. "Well, I guess it wouldn't be a real challenge if it ended too quickly."

"You _are_ crazy," Lois said. "You know Superman can't be hurt with guns. Unless…"

"Yes?" Luthor said. "Keep going with that thought."

Lois's eyes grew wide with horror.

"I see you got it," Luthor said, grabbing her by the arm. "Kryptonite bullets. Thank you very much, class dismissed."

--------------------------------------------------------

Less than a second after entering the upper layers of the atmosphere, Superman realised he could navigate his way towards Metropolis by the smoke rising from it. There were several fires out of control in and around the city.

Making his way as fast as possible towards the fire that was in the most populated area, Superman ventures a look in Lois's direction. His breath caught. He knew that the trip to the sun was to get him out of the way, but he didn't think Luthor would already be in the house, waving a gun.

Superman felt like he was being torn into pieces. The only thing he wanted to do was rush to Lois and Jason to get them away from the monster that had them, but the fire-fighters were in dire need of his assistance. He could hear desperate cries for help from all over the city.

There was no way Superman could let all those people die just because he cared more for two others. Then again, he had no time to waste on being delicate with the rescue. He couldn't afford to consider the repercussions of his urgent actions. What he was about to do would have vast effect on the environment and climate of Metropolis, but he would just have to deal with those consequences later.

Making his way to the Metropolis bay, Superman used his heat vision to warm up the water. He kept the heat burning even when he was above the waterline, until enough of the sea had evaporated. A quick scan showed relatively minor damage to the marine life. Superman had thought it would be worse.

The evaporated water was beginning to disperse. Superman blew on it gently, allowing it to rise to just the right height, and then he blew harder, freezing the little droplets into storm clouds. A giant storm was forming over Metropolis. It was already beginning to rain. There would be a downpour on Metropolis tonight.

After examining the clouds one last time, Superman finally headed towards Lois's riverside house. His telescopic vision told him Lois and Jason were still there. Lois was standing in front of Luthor, the gun ever closer to her. Jason looked unwell. He was curled up on a chair, and seemed sweaty and pale. Superman's anger grew wilder. If Luthor had hit his boy, he was going to make him pay in ways he never would have considered before.

Superman knew that Luthor probably had kryptonite, but he didn't care. He couldn't think about what would happen to him after he saved Lois and Jason. As long as they were safe. The plan was simple: get in at top speed, snatch Lois and Jason, fly them to safety, and worry about Luthor later.

The first part of the plan worked perfectly. Superman bolted through the window and grabbed Lois from right in front of Luthor. He carried her quickly towards Jason and wrapped his free arm around his son, but when tried to lift both, something pulled him back down.

The feeling was painfully familiar. Superman had not expected to feel the full influence of kryptonite so quickly. His distance from Luthor should have allowed him to soar up fast enough to avoid any lingering effect. Then Jason drifted backwards in his arms, and he realised the horrid truth. The kryptonite wasn't on Luthor. It was on Jason. And it did more than prevent him from flying. It was also making his little boy sick.

Superman tried to remove the chain from Jason's neck, but to no avail. His strength was leaving him like water running from a shattered glass. He needed Lois to remove that chain for him, but her hands were tied, and he couldn't even break the bonds this close to kryptonite.

Reluctantly, Superman moved a few steps away from Jason, dragging Lois with him. Only then he managed to release her hands.

Lois tried to reach Jason, but Luthor, who had until that point watched everything with an amused smile, stopped her.

"Not another step, Miss Lane," Luthor said, waving his gun.

Superman moved forward to take the gun away from him, and then Luthor shot him.

When thinking back on things later, Superman assumed it was the presence of kryptonite that hindered his reaction. He heard the trigger being pulled, and he saw Lois move, but he didn't react in time to stop her. She threw herself in between him and the gun, shielding him with her own life.

But her sacrifice was in vain. The bullet went clean through the flesh under Lois's shoulder and into Superman's chest. They both staggered backwards and fell to the floor, their blood mixing.

Jason tried to scream, but was too weak. Only a small whimper rose up from his throat. For a moment, the only sound in the room was the ringing of the phone, which they all ignored.

"Now, Miss Lane," Luthor said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to her feet. "As you can see, I have accomplished everything I wanted. But just in case, you and the boy are coming with me."

"No!" Lois cried. She fell back to her knees beside Superman, who was barely able to move. She couldn't even feel the pain in her own gunshot wound. The pain in her heart and the burning defeat hurt much worse.

"Oh, I'm not entirely inhuman," Luthor said with mock pity in his voice. "You may kiss him goodbye."

Lois looked up at Luthor. She wanted to tell him to go to hell, but couldn't turn down his offer. She had to let Superman know how much she loved him. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.

To her surprise, Superman responded to her. He kissed her back warmly, passionately. She grabbed the back of his head and pulled him closer to her. Even though they were locked in a kiss, she couldn't get close enough. Lois feared that this time Luthor had accomplished what he had been trying to do for years. That this was the last time she saw Superman. The first kiss she remembered, and the last they would share. She didn't want to ever let go. And then crude arms lifted her away from her fallen hero.

As Lois was being hauled out of the room, the last thing she saw was Superman mouthing her name.

**A/N:** Er… well… You can't say I didn't warn you. At least I can tell you that chapter 10 will be uploaded much faster than this one was.

**A/N 2:** You guys rock! First and foremost, by lovely beta, LostSchizophrenic. You really should check out her story (did I mention you should review it as well?) And then – all of you who reviewed this chapter (anyone who didn't get my personal 'thank you' note, let me know). Each review is an inspiration. Thanks even to those of you who chose not to review, but simply added me to your favourite or alert lists. I've just found out about the 'stats' page, so thank you guys! I'm really flattered.

**PotterPhan21** – The book I was referring to is called "Neverwhere", by Neil Gaiman. I got it mixed up with the Peter Pan myth.

**A/N 3:** Anonymous reviews are now enabled. Sorry they were disabled before. I wasn't even aware it was an option.


	10. Chapter 10: Forced Allies

**A/N:** Look mommy! No hands! Or rather… no beta. The lovely LostSchizophrenic is off on vacation, and I didn't want to leave you hanging. Let me know if you find anything amiss with the sppelign ;), or anything else, for that matter. And thanks to htbthomas for the help.

Oh, and check out my profile. I put up two delicious links for your pleasure.

**Chapter 10: Forced Allies**

Superman had felt like this twice before in his life. The bullet in his chest was made out of kryptonite. There was no doubt about it.

The last time it had happened, a small splinter had been stuck in his side. Charged with solar energy, Superman had been able to ignore it for the few minutes it had taken him to lift Luthor's kryptonite-seeded landmass out of Earth's orbit. After that, the radiation even from that tiny fragment had been enough to overtake him. Then, he had been content with the knowledge that the world had been saved, and he had been willing to accept death. He had come back only after learning that he had a son.

The time before had been when Luthor had stabbed him. A large piece of the kryptonite dagger had still been inside him when he had dropped into the water. On that occasion, Luthor had been about to win, and the fate of billions of people had been doomed. Superman had fought against death with everything he had had. But it hadn't been enough. He would have died if it hadn't been for Lois coming back for him.

This time, no-one was coming. Lois and Jason had been taken away. And Lois was injured. Superman had scanned her before she had been snatched out of his arms. She suffered no arterial damage. She would survive this injury. But Superman had no doubt that she was in a great deal of pain. And she was definitely in danger. The same was true for Jason.

This time, Superman would have to find a way to survive. He had to live in order to save them.

Superman's eyelids were heavy. Heavier than any asteroid he'd pushed out of Earth's orbit. But he couldn't let them drop. He knew for certain that if he would allow his eyes to close, he would never open them again.

Superman tried to take a deep breath to collect himself, but it only made things worse. A sharp pain pierced through him, and he coughed up blood. He took another breath, gingerly, and listened to the hiss of air. His left lung was punctured. At least it wasn't his heart. Superman could hold his breath for over an hour. It had only been a few minutes since he had been shot and Lois and Jason had been taken, even though it seemed like an eternity.

The thing that worried Superman the most was the regenerative ability of his body. The kryptonite was slowing it down, but eventually the wound _would_ close, and if it did, the bullet would be trapped in his lung with no plausible way of getting it out. It had to come out _now_.

Grinding his teeth, Superman pushed himself up. He stood on all fours, and then on his knees, and eventually managed to stand up on unsteady legs. He staggered towards the bathroom, tore the mirror off the wall, and unceremoniously collapsed to the bathmat.

Superman tried to stabilise himself again, but it was pointless. He had to fight just to remain conscious. The kryptonite was draining all his energy from within, and the pain was unbearable. Superman was not used to feeling pain, and didn't have to deal with it on a daily basis. This experience, while not entirely new to him, was something he hadn't had much training for.

In lack of any other alternative, Superman leaned the mirror against the wall and rolled on his side to review the damage. The hole in his suit was too tiny to allow him to see anything, and his X-Ray vision passed straight through the mirror, reflecting nothing. Using what was left of his heat vision, Superman tore a bigger hole in the suit. He could see the reflection of the entry wound now, but the bullet was too deep to detect. Then again, he didn't need to see it. He could feel the green poison pulsating with every beat of his heart.

Superman looked around for something long and sharp to help him extract the bullet. The only thing in his reach was Lois's toothbrush. He knew Lois was very strict about her toothbrush, but she would have to forgive him this time. If they survived this, he would buy her a new one.

Tightening his jaw, Superman pushed the handle of the toothbrush into the wound. He couldn't help the pained cry that escaped his lips, but he also didn't stop. He could feel the plastic scraping against the solid bullet stuck in his flesh. He tried to push it forwards with the plastic edge, just by feeling it. The mirror was useless at this stage, which was good, because he could no longer support himself on his side. He dropped to his back, his head tilted backwards, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

The bullet kept slipping away from the smooth edge of the brush. Superman's hand was getting numb, and he was beginning to lose feeling in it. Soon, he wouldn't be able to tell if he was touching the bullet at all.

There was only one thing left to do. Superman held the brush straight, making sure it was aligned with the edge of the bullet. This time he allowed his eyes to shut. With a mighty thrust, giving it every bit of power that was left in him, Superman pushed the bullet into the healthy part of his lung, through his back, and out of his body.

Superman heard a rib crack and knew he had been successful in extracting the bullet. He could feel the kryptonite burning the skin on his back. He knew he only needed to shake it out of his shirt and move a few feet away, but his muscles rebelled against his attempt to make them move. Complete silence fell over him like a thick blanket, and his eyes remained closed as his numb hand fell to his side, still holding Lois's toothbrush.

--------------------------------------------------------

Richard was worried. He had tried calling Lois to tell her that he would need to switch days with her, keeping Jason. Perry was sending him out of town for three days. But Lois hadn't answered her phone, even long after Jason's bed-time. She was always so adamant about putting Jason to bed on time. It wasn't like her not to be home, or at least have a sitter staying with Jason. She wasn't answering her mobile either. Given Lois's record, Richard was worried.

Even though half the city was blocked with emergency crews, and despite the unforeseen storm that was raging over Metropolis, Richard decided to stop by Lois's house on his way home from his night shift at the Planet. It was a half hour drive out of his way, but Richard had a bad feeling that this would be the least of his worries. For all he knew, Lois and Jason could be trapped in any one of the twelve explosions that had taken over the city.

And where was Superman when they needed him? He was good at pushing things out of orbit, especially people, like Lois, but when it came to little things… no, he had to admit Superman was good at handling smaller scaled crisis situations as well. Then it hit him. Superman had left after the first explosion, and Lois was missing… Something terrible must has happened. Richard pushed the accelerator paddle down.

The door to the house was open. That couldn't have been a good sign. Carefully, Richard moved into the house. It was empty, and there were definite signs of struggle in the living-room. The table was turned over, a new one, Richard noticed, and so were two of the chairs. There were shreds of rope on the floor and next to them, to his horror, was a puddle of blood.

A trail of blood led from the living-room to the bathroom. Richard followed it, forgetting about caution. He pushed open the bathroom door and rushed inside. The man he saw lying sprawled on the floor was not who he had expected to see.

"Superman!" Richard darted towards him. Superman was lying on his back in a pool of blood. His cape was burned up to his shoulder-blades, and his shirt was torn over the chest. Through the hole Richard could see a partially-healed wound. There were blood stains on the sink and on the mirror, which lay beside him. In his hand was a bloodied toothbrush.

Richard wondered if Superman had somehow been stabbed with the toothbrush, but immediately dismissed the thought. The only thing that could hurt Superman was kryptonite. And if Superman was still unconscious on the floor, it meant that the kryptonite was still around. Richard didn't even dare think that Superman was anything but unconscious.

Richard began looking frantically for any sign of green on Superman, but he couldn't find any. It was probably hidden somewhere he couldn't see through the clothes. He lifted Superman's shoulders up from the floor and tried to tug at his shirt. He had done this with Jason a thousand times before, but Superman was much heavier, and he was forced to stick his thigh under the massive back to allow the shirt to come off.

As Richard pulled the tight cloth away from Superman's back, a small green cylinder fell to the bathmat. Richard picked it up and dropped Superman back to the floor. The green cylinder was definitely kryptonite. He stepped out into the living-room and flung it out the window, deep into the river. The strange storm was finally over, and a red hue was hung low over the horizon. There was still a strong smell of smoke in the air.

--------------------------------------------------------

Superman opened his eyes and heaved himself up onto his elbows. He still felt extremely week, and there was a dull pain in his chest, but the searing pain in his back was gone. The kryptonite was gone. He looked around, struggling to focus his eyes, and saw Richard.

"Did you remove the kryptonite?" Superman asked.

"Yes," Richard said. There was no sympathy in his voice.

"Thank you," Superman said. He used the bathtub to pull himself up to a sitting position.

"Where're Jason and Lois?" Richard asked.

"Kidnapped," Superman said curtly. "Luthor." His speech was slightly slurred. Every syllable was a struggle. There wasn't enough air in his lungs to utter the words. He pulled himself further up to his feet, his vision slowly returning. Through the bathroom wall he could see the sun rising, and was glad he wouldn't have to fly far to reach its healing rays.

"And you let him?" Richard spat at him.

Superman hung his head. "I'll get them back."

"How?" Richard asked. "By getting shot again? Luthor's got kryptonite bullets." His voice lowered a notch. "I should come with you."

"You too can be shot," Superman said, slightly shaking his head.

"At least I don't faint just from _seeing_ the bullets," Richard retorted.

Superman paused for a moment and then said: "You're right." He walked through the bathroom door and towards the window, leaning against the wall for support. If he was going to carry someone with him, he first needed to get his strength back.

"What's wrong with you?" Richard shouted. "I just took a swing at you and all you can say is I'm right? Don't you ever hit back?"

"You're just upset," Superman said.

"Don't patronise me!" Richard said. "Or… do you feel sorry for me, because after five years, all it took you were three days to take Lois away?"

"I didn't take her from you," Superman said. "She is old enough to make her own choices."

"And she just happened to chose you?" Richard asked rhetorically. "You had nothing to do with it." He moved towards Superman, as if ready to punch him. "You're not together?"

"We're not."

Richard was taken aback. "Then… what? Why?" he asked.

"Look at the danger she's in just because Luthor thinks I have feelings for her," Superman said. "Imagine what would happen if we actually were involved."

"So you're not with her because you want to protect her? By _not_ being there for her?"

The way Richard said it made it sound stupid. But then, there was also the fact he could not be with a mortal. Of course, he couldn't tell that to Richard. All he could say, while it was tearing him from inside was: "I'd rather see her with you."

"So would I," Richard said.

Superman took the last few steps towards the window. He pushed away the curtains and then stopped short.

"What is it?" Richard asked. His voice was sober again.

"A message from Luthor," Superman said. "Written in ultraviolet ink. It reads: _Superman, if you're still alive, you'll find_ –" He paused. The message said "_Your family_", but Superman thought it would be too cruel to read these words to Richard. He went on, altering the wording a little. "_Lois and Jason at the same place we last met._ It's signed, _you know who_."

"Let's go," Richard said. He took Superman's hand in his, ready to be carried into the sky.

"I can't," Superman said, gently removing his hand from Richard's grip. "I need to heal first, and I think we'll need help from someone else as well."

"Who?" Richard said. "Why?"

Superman breathed deeply, feeling the cold morning air burn his wounded lung. He knew Richard was not going to take this well. "Lois was shot, too," he said. "And Jason has a… an allergic reaction. I want his doctor to join us, to treat them as soon as we reach them."

"Shot!" Richard shouted. He raised his right hand, his fingers closed to a tight fist, and then dropped it. "Go," he said. "Go get Crispin. I'll meet you back at my house. I think I have a plan."

Without another word Superman flew out the window. Richard went out the door and into his car. He slammed his fists several times into the stirring wheel before finally starting the engine and pulling out of the driveway.

--------------------------------------------------------

Finding Dr Crispin was not a problem. Within fifteen minutes of leaving Lois's house Superman managed to recharge himself to full strength, fly by his apartment to change his burnt, torn and bloodied suit, and find Dr Crispin sleeping comfortably in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, his hand wrapped around the waist of a young blonde, and several minibar bottles of liquor scattered on the floor and on the bed around them. Convincing Dr Crispin to help him was a whole other matter.

Superman didn't think there was time for explanations and awkward goodbyes. In the case of that blonde, he assumed it would also be a reintroduction. Flying in through the open window he grabbed the sleeping figure of Dr Crispin and soared back into the pale early morning sky.

Superman hoped that Dr Crispin was drunk enough to sleep through the entire way back to Metropolis, where he would explain everything in the calm of Richard's house, but he had no such luck. Dr Crispin began to stir when they were over Richmond, and immediately started screaming.

All of Superman's attempts to calm him down while they were still in the air proved futile. Eventually Superman took them both down to a landing by a lake in upstate Pennsylvania. "Please, calm down," he said.

Finally the screams stopped and were replaced with shouts. "You kidnapped me!" Dr Crispin yelled. "You can't kidnap people! You're supposed to be one of the good guys!"

"I am," Superman tried to say, but his deep voice was drowned down by Dr Crispin's outburst.

"Take me back! No! Don't take me back! I don't want to fly! Are you out of your mind! Why did you take me away? I had such a good hideout with er… with…"

Trying to remember the name of the blonde with whom he'd spent the night allowed Superman to say something at long last. "I need your help, and you won't have to hide anymore after that."

"Why not?" Dr Crispin asked. "If I help you, you'll tell Luthor you're not me? Fat lot of good that'll do."

"Better," Superman said. "He'll see us together."

Dr Crispin considered it for a moment and then turned completely hysterical. "You want to take me to Luthor! You _are_ out of your mind!" He turned his back to Superman and began to march away.

"It's over a hundred miles to the nearest city," Superman said. His deep baritone carried over the morning breeze. "Let me give you a lift."

Dr Crispin paused. "You are _not_ going to use this to take me to Luthor against my will," he said.

"You can't help me unless you want to," Superman said. "If I just wanted to take you to Luthor, you really think you could have stopped me?"

"Good point," Dr Crispin said. He walked back to Superman. "All right, take me to the nearest hotel. But make it a nice one. At least four stars. No, wait. Make it five. I had a rough morning."

Superman stifled a snicker. He still hoped to convince Dr Crispin to join him, but to do that he needed some leverage, and he couldn't appear to be laughing at him. He grabbed the shivering, agitated man by the armpits and soared into the sky. A few light clouds drifted beneath them as they glided north. After a minute of flying, Superman spotted the leverage he'd been looking for. He landed in the middle of a sorority after-party and took a few steps away from Dr Crispin, as if only now approaching him.

"Dr Crispin, please, I need your help," Superman said, his rich baritone carrying over the heads of the sorority girls. While his words were imploring, Superman kept a proud posture and a grave, deep tone of voice.

A few of the girls around them squealed and jumped on both men. The others were alerted by the commotion and joined the growing circle of young girls. mostly clad in bikini swim-suits.

"Superman needs _you_?" One of the girls asked Dr Crispin. Her friends immediately followed suit. "How do you know Superman?" "Do you help him a lot?" "Are you married" "You're so brave!"

Dr Crispin raised his hands to stop the flow of questions, while not doing a thing to move away from the young bodies around him. "Yes," he said. "Superman and I go a long way back. Sometimes I help him with things he can't do on his own. After all, he's only human, aren't you, buddy?"

"Kryptonian," Superman said, but he couldn't wipe the amused smile off his face. "Does that mean you'll help me – this time?"

"Of course I will," Dr Crispin said. "After all, we can't allow all these lovely ladies to die a horrible death. Got to save the world." He sighed. "Again."

Superman raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He agilely evaded the girls who were trying to grip him, swept Dr Crispin into the air and resumed course towards Metropolis at high speed.

"You'll take me back to them once we're done, right?" Dr Crispin asked while they were high over the clouds.

"Of course I will," Superman said, echoing Dr Crispin's words from just a moment before.

**--------------------------------------------------------**

**A/N 2:** I feel I should explain why I made Richard behave the way he did. When faced with a life-and-death situation, there are three stereotypical reactions – the three 'F's: Fight, Flight, or Fright (Freeze). These have nothing to do with what a person may think is right. It's only a matter of how the person's body and mind react to a sudden surge of adrenalin. The thinking part comes much later. You can never know which of the three you are, until faced with a life-and-death situation (hopefully, none of you ever will find that out). Richard has proven to be the 'Fight' kind of guy, which is why I believe any thought, any hostility he may harbour, will be overshadowed in case of an emergency, and will only surface later. Hope this explains things.

**A/N 3: **Ok, I researched this topic long and hard on the net, and came up short (you should appreciate it, because the chapter was delayed three days because of it). The piece of kryptonite they removed from Superman's body at the hospital: did it come from the growing crystals of the continent, or was it a residual part of Luthor's kryptonite dagger? I finally went with the continent-borne approach, because it seems unbelievable to me that Superman would make such a quick recovery and then go on to tackle a mini-continent with a piece of kryptonite still in his body. I hope this doesn't jar those of you who go for the 'residual piece' approach. But, hey, hit that 'review' button and let me know what you think.

**A/N 4:** Again, you guys rock! I apologise for giving you such a mind blowing ending to the previous chapter. To my defence, I kept my promise to update quickly. And yes, every review gave me a little more incentive to write into the wee hours of the morning (Don't worry, I enjoyed myself). So, thanks!


	11. Chapter 11: Rescue

**A/N:** Chapter 10 revised. You were all most adamant in the opinion that the splinter taken out of Superman's body in the hospital was from the same piece Lois took out earlier. Especially LostSchizophrenic and htbthomas, who warned me even before the chapter was loaded. Well, I had no choice but to watch the movie again (oh, the pains you put me through :D). You were right. I don't understand how, but canon is canon, and I'll stick to it.

**Thanks** to LostSchizphrenic for the beta and for the confidence boost!

**Warning:** Chapter ends with a cliffhanger. Not as mean as the one at the end of chapter 9, but those of you who don't like to remain hanging… well… Next chapter will be up as soon as possible.

**Chapter 11: Rescue**

Carrying Dr Crispin in his arms, Superman soared high towards Metropolis. As the skyline of the city loomed to his north, he turned eastwards, beyond Metropolis, to where the centre of Luthor's new continent would have been had he not sent it into outer-space.

Hovering half a mile above the surface of the water, Superman stared into the large yacht that was floating there idly. Most of the yacht had been covered with a lead-lined cloth, but one room at the stern remained visible. In it, on a few mattresses tossed on the floor, lay Lois and Jason, guarded by one man and surrounded by glowing green crystals. They were both breathing, which was more than Superman could manage as he saw them. However, neither looked in good health.

Fighting the urge to dive in for another rescue attempt that was doomed to end like his previous one, Superman bit his lower lip, and then wrapped Dr Crispin in his cape. At the speed they were travelling beck to Metropolis and into Richard's house, the good doctor needed protection from the air friction. Travelling this fast, he would get uncomfortably hot even _with_ the protective isolation.

Richard had conveniently left his window open for Superman to fly in. He was standing in the living-room, checking the pressure on an air-tank. Around him were several wetsuits, regulators, more air tanks, and additional diving equipment.

As soon as their feet touched the floor, Dr Crispin untangled himself from the heated red fabric, waving his arms and stomping his legs to get the cape away from him. "What was the big idea?" he yelled at Superman.

Superman looked at him calmly, while fastening the cape back to his shoulders, and then brushing Crispin's shoeprints off it. "The idea was to prevent the air friction from peeling off your skin and then burning you," he said. "We had to hurry. Lois and Jason need help. Now." He took a deep breath and then described what he had seen on the yacht. Richard seemed to wince with every word he said.

"What do you need?" Superman asked Dr Crispin after the description was done. He stood by the window, ready to fly off to get Dr Crispin whatever he asked for.

Dr Crispin seemed flushed, like a schoolboy sitting in a test he'd forgotten to study for. "I… err… Was Jason exposed to anything new?"

Superman considered how much to tell Dr Crispin. The doctor-patient confidentiality only went so far. If he knew that Jason was reacting to kryptonite, he might not be able to resist the temptation of going to the media. "I think he was," Superman said eventually.

"Then he would need his inhaler," Dr Crispin said. "And he might need epinephrine."

"I took the first aid kit from the sea-plane," Richard said, handing it over to Dr Crispin. "It's well stocked. I think you'll find everything you need in there."

Dr Crispin opened the case Richard had handed to him and shuffled the items inside, as if looking for something, but not certain what. "I think this should do," he said finally.

"Good," Richard said. He tossed a wetsuit at Dr Crispin and then handed one to Superman. "Then we should get going."

Superman looked at Richard, who was already wearing the bottom part of his wetsuit, stretching the black neoprene to fit over his torso. "What are these for?" he asked.

"Luthor would probably expect you to fly in," Richard said.

Superman nodded. He could fly them all to the waiting yacht and be there in a manner of minutes. That was the quickest way to get to Lois and Jason.

"So we won't," Richard said. "Instead, we'll come from underneath his boat. I assume you can get us in through the hull?"

"Yes," Superman said. "But it will sink the boat." He gave Richard the wetsuit back.

Richard didn't take the offered suit. "With any luck, the surprise will give us enough time to get Lois and Jason and be out before Luthor realises what hit him."

Dr Crispin shivered. "And if we're not lucky?" he asked.

"Then it really doesn't matter, does it?" Richard said. "Now put on the suit." He shoved it back into Superman's hands.

"I don't need it," Superman said. "But we should get two extra tanks for Lois and Jason, just in case something goes wrong." After a moment, he added: "Good thinking, Richard. Thank you."

Shaking his head and mumbling to himself, Dr Crispin began undressing, to fit into the tight black wetsuit. Superman's acute hearing picked up something about room service and girls.

--------------------------------------------------------

Lois awoke into pain. The entire left side of her body was set in flames, issuing from the hole just under her shoulder. She could barely move, and she couldn't move her left arm at all. Reality began to come back to her in white-hot waves.

Jason.

Lois looked around her and saw Jason lying next to her on a mattress that matched the one under her sore body. The kryptonite necklace was still around his neck. More of the crystals were surrounding the room. Jason's eyes were closed, his breathing shallow and whizzing. Lois was sure he was having an asthma attack – the first in two months. His skin was clammy and had a greenish tint to match the green stones around them.

So much kryptonite. Superman would never be able to get to them.

Superman.

Lois began to silently weep. She didn't even know if he was still alive. The last time she saw him, he was so weak, the kryptonite bullet poisoning him from inside. She kissed him goodbye. The memory of the kiss sent shivers down her spine. She could still feel his lips on hers, and she relished the ghost of their warmth. Then she mentally kicked herself for letting her focus trail to the pleasure of the kiss… the wonderful kiss… She shivered again.

Lois intentionally touched her gunshot wound. The agony of it pulled her head out of the gutter and sent her back to reality. She was with her unconscious little boy in a small room, paved with mattresses and surrounded by kryptonite. She pulled herself up on her right hand and tried to crawl closer to Jason.

"I wouldn't do that, miss Lane," a man's voice said from over her head.

Lois tilted her head back, trying not to move more than she had to. A man was sitting at the corner of the room, pointing a gun at her. She had failed to notice him before.

"Move away from him or you'll have another hole to match the one in your chest," the man said. His finger was on the trigger.

Lois rolled to her back, the wind taken out of her sails. "He'll die," she said. Her voice was even more pleading than she had intended.

"Better him than me," the man said. "I've heard what happened with the piano the last time you were captured."

"You're dead anyway," Lois said. "When Superman gets here, you'll regret ever working for Luthor." She knew that Superman would never kill him, but somehow it made the threat sound better than "will have you arrested." That is, if Superman was able get to them. If he was still alive. Tears were filling her eyes again, but she blinked them away.

"Superman?" the man laughed. "He can't get within a hundred feet of this boat. Didn't you see all this green stuff around? Mister Luthor says it can even kill Superman. He says you know all about it. Is it true? Can Superman really die?"

For a moment, Lois forgot about the pain in her side. She forgot she could barely move. Superman was probably still in her apartment, bleeding to death, and this man thought it was amusing. In a sudden burst of pure rage she tossed the largest kryptonite rock straight at his head. He was unconscious even before his hand convulsed on the trigger.

The shot shook Lois. At first, she only heard the noise it made. It took her a few seconds to feel the pain in her thigh, and realise that this time it was much more serious. While the kryptonite bullet passed through, this one didn't. It was still in her leg, probably stuck in the bone.

Lois pulled herself over to Jason. She took the necklace off him and tossed it to the other side of the room. He still looked green, but before she sank back into unconsciousness, Lois could hear his breathing ease up a bit.

--------------------------------------------------------

Carrying the two men in full diving gear, Superman dropped out of the sky half a mile west of where Luthor's boat was waiting. "I'll scan the yacht before we go any further," he said, and plunged out of sight, diving almost as fast as he flew.

Richard had been right. While Luthor had foreseen Superman's attack from over his head and had covered the yacht with lead, he had left it completely exposed to scanning from below.

There were three chambers in the upper deck of the yacht, and five in the lower. Lois and Jason were on the lower deck, towards the end of the boat. Luthor was on the upper deck, and so were Mxyzptlk and two henchmen. Another man was with Lois and Jason, but he was lying on the floor. A quick scan of his vitals showed that he wasn't going to get up any time soon. It seemed that Lois had already taken cake of her guard.

Every room Superman scanned one every deck, every corridor, even the lifeboat tied at the rear – they were all filled with large lumps of kryptonite. It seemed that the boat itself was glowing green. Watching while a hundred feet of water stood between him and the yacht, Superman could still feel the green rocks seeping away his power. Richard had been right about that part as well. There was no way he could get onto that boat and remain standing for more than a few seconds. But with Richard's help, a few seconds were all he needed.

Tearing through the water like a red and blue torpedo, Superman made the distance from the boat to the two men waiting for him in less than three seconds. The way back to the boat took slightly longer, as he had to make sure not to swim so fast that they would be torn limb from limb.

Superman felt his heart clenching as he released Dr Crispin and Richard thirty feet below Luthor's yacht, allowing them to surface at their own rate. He wasn't used to accepting other people's help. Usually, he was the one doing all the helping. However, this time, when it mattered the most, when the two people dearest to him were in danger – this time he had to rely on others to do the rescuing for him.

Even as he floated between the yacht and its lifeboat, not touching any of the kryptonite that filled both, he could feel his strength leaving him. Soon, he would not be able to punch through the boat's exterior.

"Are you ready?" Superman asked as soon as Dr Crispin's head popped out of the water, a few seconds after Richard's had. He was eager to use his powers while he still had them.

Richard removed his diving mask and nodded, and then rehearsed their parts one last time: "You get us into the yacht and then go start the engine on the lifeboat. Me and Crispin get Lois and Jason and meet you there."

Instead of confirming the plan, Superman curled his hand to a fist and tore a hole in the yacht's wall, a few inches above the water line. Through it they could see the top of Lois and Jason's prison chamber.

--------------------------------------------------------

Mxyzptlk plopped on Lex Luthor's desk, scattering his papers all over the yacht's main chamber. "I'm bored," he said.

Luthor pulled one of the crumbled papers from under the imp. "You're in my way. I need to work," he said, agitated.

"What are you working on, anyway," Mxyzptlk asked.

"The president's speech," Luthor said. "He's going to address the nation after we get rid of Superman. Let the people know he's handing over the nation to me. What do you think sounds better? _Superman is gone forever_, or _Superman is out of our lives_?"

"Speeches," Mxyzptlk said, hovering off the desk towards the ceiling. "Boring."

"_Gone forever_, I think," Luthor said, ignoring the imp.

"I'm going someplace else to have some fun," Mxyzptlk said, and disappeared.

Luthor sighed. The imp was a nuisance, but he could come in handy in case…

The yacht groaned and shook, as if every board that made it was about to fall into pieces.

In case something like this should happen.

--------------------------------------------------------

The very idea of standing aside and letting others do the work for him was frustrating. But watching Lois and Jason from the new hatch he'd opened took every bit of self control Superman had. Still, he moved aside and allowed Richard and Dr Crispin to go past him into the kryptonite-seeded chamber. With a last glance at his loved ones being hauled towards the exit by others, he rolled into the lifeboat and began working on the engine.

The inside of the lifeboat was completely exposed. Up until then they kept themselves completely hidden, thanks to Richard's idea to come from below. But now, Superman was very much visible to anyone on the yacht looking the right way. Then again, tearing the new opening in the boat's hull surely alerted them to his presence.

And it did. Richard was carrying Lois in his arms, pushing Dr Crispin, who was holding Jason, in front of him. They were almost at the new exit when Luthor burst into the chamber.

"I was expecting you," Luthor said, waving a gun that was obviously loaded with kryptonite bullets. "Didn't think one bullet would be enough to stop you. Then again, I didn't think even you would be stupid enough to burst into a room full of these little green gems."

Richard stepped forward. "Apparently he's not that stupid," he said. "You're outnumbered, Luthor. Put away the gun. Even if you shoot one of us, the other will take you down. Either way, we're taking Lois and Jason out of here."

Luthor looked Richard up and down with and amused smile. "A sidekick," he said. He pointed the gun at Dr Crispin. "Superman, I didn't know you had it in you."

"Really," Dr Crispin said. He raised the hand that wasn't holding Jason, his voice trembling. "I'm not Superman."

Luthor frowned. "All this kryptonite around, and you're still standing," he said. "Hmm… I guess you're not. Then, you're probably even more vulnerable to this." And he pulled the trigger.

While his vision was beginning to blur, his thought process was still very clear. In a fraction of a second, Superman considered his options. He couldn't ram into Luthor at high speed. He didn't think he was able to build up the speed at his current condition. He could put himself in the path of the bullet, but while very heroic, it would also be stupid. If he did that, it would only give Luthor another victim, and it would save no-one. All Luthor would have to do was take another aim. It'll only delay his victory a few seconds. At the speed of light, Superman took another look around him, straining to focus. He found the strongest point in the boat's hull and pushed.

The boat shook violently.

Luthor's arm jerked as the gun fired. The bullet grazed Dr Crispin's arm, hit the chamber's ceiling and moved harmlessly through the upper deck to the open air. Luthor fell, but so did Dr Crispin, who dropped Jason, and Richard, who rolled onto his back to break Lois's fall.

Unburdened by anyone's weight, Luthor was the first to get up on his feet. But before he could aim the gun again, Richard was upon him. While Luthor had learned to take care of himself during his five years in prison, it had never been by the force of the arm. He did his best to punch Richard, but within a few seconds he was flat on is back, as unconscious as his prisoners.

Superman could hear Luthor's henchmen running down the corridor towards them. He shouted at Richard to shut the chamber's door, and then, with the last of his strength, directed a beam of heat from his eyes at the lock, melting it completely into the doorframe. With that last feat he collapsed into the lifeboat. The kryptonite rocks on which he landed cut into his back and his arms.

--------------------------------------------------------

With Lois in his arms, Richard climbed out of the opening in the chamber wall. Salty sea water splashed in their faces, and Lois stirred, but did not wake up. He lowered her gently into the lifeboat beside Jason and moved to unhook them from the yacht. The two henchmen who had failed to enter the prison room were already on the upper deck, readying their weapons. Richard had hoped that Superman would be able to at least point the boat in the right direction, but the hero was barely conscious and as green as Jason.

Luckily, the shooting angle from the upper deck to the lifeboat was difficult. Stooping low to avoid the poorly aimed bullets, Richard managed to finally release the rope that was tying them to the yacht. He navigated the small boat around the boat to the bow, where the two henchmen could not see them any more, and then switched the engine to full speed forward.

Built mainly to help reach a shore in case of an emergency, the lifeboat's engine was only a tiny propeller on a stick, and couldn't produce much speed. But it was enough to get them out of gunshot range before Luthor's men managed to get them in their line of sight. Where they were heading really didn't matter. Once they tossed all the kryptonite into the sea, Superman would make sure they got safely home, no matter where they were by then.

Richard turned to the task of tossing the green rocks out of the boat, assuming that Dr Crispin would do his part and start taking care of Lois and Jason. Instead, Dr Crispin took off the upper part of his diving suit, heavily moaning, and began dabbing with a piece of cotton cloth at his arm, where Luthor's bullet had grazed it.

"I think Lois and Jason are in greater need of medical attention than you are," Richard said angrily, tossing another rock over the side of the lifeboat.

"Basic rule of First Aid: treat yourself first," Dr Crispin said. "I won't do them any good if I pass out of loss of blood."

"What loss of blood?" Richard asked, barely keeping himself from shouting. "You're not bleeding! This doesn't even qualify as a scratch!"

"Are you a doctor?" Dr Crispin asked sharply.

"I don't have to be one to recognise a scratch that even my five year old son would ignore. A son, who is now lying next to you, dying. Why aren't you doing something for him?" Richard was so angry he threw the kryptonite rocks into the sea with undue force. He was very close to throwing them with the same force at Dr Crispin's thick skull.

"I'm trying to do this as fast as I can," Dr Crispin said. "I'll do everything I can for him once this wound is dressed. It'll be quicker if you stop distracting me."

Angry and frustrated, Richard rolled Superman to his side to get the pieces of kryptonite from under him. Superman groaned at the crude touch but held steady to allow Richard easier access to the rocks. As the last green rock had been tossed into the water, Richard could see the injuries on his back already begin to close up.

"I think that was the last of the kryptonite," Richard said. He put a hand on Superman's shoulder, but removed it immediately. "Your turn now."

Dr Crispin was done treating his arm. He had used up more then half the bandages from the kit, and most of the antiseptic wipes. Finally ready to treat Jason, he took the epinephrine syringe out of the kit and checked the dosage.

Superman tried to stand up, but the slight sideways movement of the lifeboat was enough to push him off balance. "I don't have my power back yet," he said, stating the obvious. "Did you remove the one around Jason's neck as well?"

"There wasn't anything around Jason's neck," Richard said, taking another perplexed look. "I thought it only affected people from the planet Krypton. Why would Luthor put kryptonite on…? Oh my god."

As if to confirm Richard's rising suspicions, the colour returned to Jason's cheeks, and his breathing became calmer. He opened his eyes just in time to see Dr Crispin about to inject him with the epinephrine. Jason screamed, and so did his doctor, startled by his patient's unexpected recovery.

Richard scooped Jason in his arms, nearly crying with joy. He was still his father, no matter what his biology stated. Then he turned his attention to Lois. To the sound of her son's scream she stirred again, and her eyelids fluttered. Superman stood over her, scanning her from top to bottom, much as he had done the last time he had saved her from a boat, two months before. Undoubtedly, he was using his X-Ray vision to assess her condition.

"She has lost a lot of blood, but she's not in shock," Superman said, addressing Dr Crispin. "If you can stop the bleeding, she'll be all right until we can get her to a hospital."

"What is going on here?" Dr Crispin asked, throwing his arms in the air. "Now you! Are _you_ a doctor?"

"No," Superman said. "Do you have X-Ray vision?"

Dr Crispin's jaw dropped. "I guess you _could_ be my assistant this time," he said eventually.

Superman's powers must have returned, because before the sentence was finished, all the remaining bandages from the kit were ready in front of him. "You can shut off the engine now," he told Richard.

Reluctantly, Richard eased his embrace around Jason and killed off the engine. He expected everything to go quiet, but there was still a hum in the air – a sort of a whistle. Surprised, he looked up to the source of the sound and froze. Less than a hundred feet over their heads was a missile.

Superman looked in the same direction and immediately leaped into the air. He collided with the missile fifty feet above the lifeboat. The explosion shook the little boat as falling fragments splashed water over its four occupants.The biggest splash was caused by Superman, who dropped out of the sky like a red and blue boulder.

Richard looked to the horizon, to where Luthor's yacht was still visible – a small speck riding a sea of blue. Two more missiles were making their way from that spec towards the lifeboat, much closer to their destination than to their origin. Superman was nowhere to be seen. Richard considered trying to start the engine, but it wouldn't be able to carry the boat far enough. Superman was their only chance of survival.

Richard jumped into the water.

--------------------------------------------------------

**A/N 2:** Oh dear. I was away for a few days. I really wanted to post this chapter before I left. Even promised red lightning I'd post it (my profound apologies!) I finished it on time, but FFNet was down when I wanted to post, and stayed that way until I left. As a sort of compensation, I'll try to write the next chapter faster than usual.

**A/N 3:** Hmmm… The previous chapter had a record number of hits, and yet a record low number of reviews. I guess you didn't like the methods Superman had to resort to in order to save his life, and were too nice to comment on that. Well, I got the hint. No more toothbrushes :). To those of you who did review – Thank you guys! You're the reason I stayed up at unreasonable hours to finish this chapter before I left.


	12. Chapter 12: The Latest Son of Krypton

**A/N:** Sorry for the long delay. Real life took a large real bite off my… er… rear side. Nothing bad, thank you for worrying, just extremely time-consuming. And if you're wondering, it'll keep consuming my time for at least three more months, so I'm afraid the next chapters might take just as long.

**A/N 2:** While I was away, you were kind enough to still write reviews (actually, this is the main reason I sat myself down to write this chapter in the middle of the hurricane that is my life right now). It seems a bit silly to write personal replies now – it'll go something like – "you remember that story you reviewed a couple of months ago… you know the one I'm talking about… Well, thanks! Your hunches were right on the spot… you don't know which hunches those were? Oh, well…"

So – Thanks to **Kaimi Hoshi** (I was extremely flattered, Just don't let your grades drop, or your parents will come looking for me…), **Anarra**, **DragonFlame27** (sorry this took so long!), **estetson47**, **Mr.Firenze** (Thanks for the multiple reviews. Hope you still have all your hair), **red lighting**, **PotterPhan21 **(Thanks for letting me know about the English thing), **Sgt. Cheetos** (sorry about the toothbrush smirk won't happen again), **Sunny2006**, **AgiVega**, **Mrs.Kal-El** (sorry this took so long. Didn't realise this was such a cliffhanger), **mistressbabette51**, **IrishKat** (Thanks for catching the lead/led typo. Got it fixed), **ChloeSullivan0**, **kat303**, **KnightGuardian** (I feel the same way about Luthor. He has to be good at being evil :) ), **JadedTruth**, **Anieline** (It's nice to know you got into the atmosphere I was trying to create), **Magus** (I saw the movie… well… more than once :) ), **CoyoteScion** (hope this chapter saves you from having to actually work :) ).

--------------------------------------------------------

Well, I don't expect you to actually remember **where we left off**, so here's a quick reminder: Lex Luthor, following Lois's lead, assumed Superman's secret identity is none other than Dr Piers Crispin – Jason's arrogant doctor. To put pressure on him to leave town (or rather, leave the planet), Lex snatched Lois and Jason, Injuring Lois in the process. He did get Dr Crispin to leave town, however, Superman caught up with him, and with the help of Richard White they went to get Lois and Jason back. As the previous chapter ended, the entire group was on a lifeboat, with two missiles heading their way, and Superman sunken under-water by a third missile. Richard leaped into the water to try and help Superman, not before realising Jason's genetic origins.

**Chapter 12: The Latest Son of Krypton**

The moment Richard's hands touched the water he knew he had made a mistake. He could already hear the first of the missiles right over his head and knew that the other was not far behind. Not that it mattered. One was quite enough to kill them all. Richard knew that instead of jumping after Superman he should have grabbed Lois and Jason and dove with them as deep as he could.

But it was too late now. He couldn't reach them in time, and neither could he reach Superman. He could see blue arms surrounded by a cloud of red several feet beneath him, struggling against the water. To his horror, he realised the red was more than Superman's cape.

Still, Richard couldn't give up. He kicked against the water, and his head rose above the waterline to the side of the boat.

"Get out!" he shouted at the ones still in it. "Jump out of the boat now!"

The first of the missiles was descending in a perfectly vertical path straight at them, while the other still had a short way to go before starting its descent.

Jason looked at his screaming father, then at the missile, and then did something Richard did not expect. He jumped. But he didn't jump into the water. He leaped straight up, reaching for the nearing missile.

The force of the leap rocked the boat and capsized it. Richard held his breath as he saw his little boy – the boy he only minutes ago discovered was Kryptonian, head up to meet the flying explosive device. No more than a millisecond passed before the explosion in midair, but to Richard it seemed like he had passed a whole lifetime watching his boy rising to what could be his death. After all, a similar missile had left his fully Kryptonian father injured and fighting for his life, and Jason was still a boy, and at least half a mere human.

As Jason's little frail body hit the water Richard tore through it to grab him. He forgot all about the second missile, all about the others who had been on the lifeboat. All he wanted to do was make sure his son was still alive.

The first thing that registered with Richard, even before he reached Jason, was the fact that his son was still in one piece. That was more than could be said about the missile he'd met in mid-air. More than would have happened had he been an ordinary Earth boy.

When Richard reached him, less than a second after he'd hit the water, Jason was splashing salty water all around him. Richard grabbed him in his arms and squeezed tightly, causing them both to sink for a moment. But he didn't care. His boy was alive. It was nothing short of a miracle.

"I'm fine, dad! I'm fine!" Jason said, struggling out of the disabling embrace. Then he looked at his father and started crying.

Superman surfaced next to them, the water around him red – his blood mixing with the red of his cape. He looked up, and so did they. The last missile was making its final approach towards them. Jason tried to leap up again, but the water provided poor support, and all he managed was a huge splash.

It seemed that Superman was unable to leave the surface as well. He looked at the approaching missile a fraction of a second longer, and then gave the lifeboat a mighty push. The boat seemed to hover over the water as it moved away from them.

The missile changed its course two feet over their heads and followed the course of the empty boat. The who met over a hundred feet away from them in an explosion that shook the water and covered them with high waves.

Superman didn't wait to watch the explosion. He dove back into the water and rose almost a minute later with both Lois and Dr Crispin in his arms.

As he saw his unconscious mother, Jason's weeps grew even louder. Richard kept hugging him with one hand, using the other of keep their heads above the waterline.

"Don't cry," he told Jason. "She's going to be fine."

"I'm sorry," Jason wept, sniffing. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about me and Superman. I thought you wouldn't want me anymore." His wails only grew wider after his confession.

"Of course I still want you," Richard said. "You're my son. I love you. I'll always love you." He took a quick peek at Dr Crispin, to make sure he hadn't heard what Jason had said. Even with everything going on around him, he had enough presence of mind to know Jason's origins should remain a secret.

Jason looked at his father through tearful eyes, his crying easing up.

"You did great," Richard went on. "You just saved my life. How can I be mad at you when you just saved my life?"

--------------------------------------------------------

The banging on the door went on for hours, or at least that's what it seemed like to Lex. Bang! Bang! The door remained locked. Bang! His henchmen kicked it again and again, but still it wouldn't give.

Lex was kicking, too. Not the door, but everything else in the room. From the moment he came to, to the sound of his men banging on the door, he went into a rampant attack on everything around him. He kicked the walls, the sharp kryptonite rocks, and especially the gun, which emitted a shot, enraging Lex even more. The blasted thing was now completely submerged under the rising water in the room, and Lex was mainly kicking water, splashing it all about the room. At long last, the pain in his legs was almost greater than the splitting headache the banging gave him.

"Oh, the hell with it!" Lex cried out in frustration.

"What was that, Mr Luthor?" One of his men shouted from behind the sealed door.

"Nothing, nothing," Lex muttered.

He went to examine the gaping hole Superman had torn in the side of the wretched boat. Water was slowly sipping through it, a little more with every wave that rocked the boat. Sticking his head out, Lex checked the water level. The boat was definitely sinking. Not right away, but give it half an hour.

Bracing himself against the cold, Lex jumped out of the hole. He held on to the railing and pulled himself up onto the deck.

The banging inside the boat went on. Lex ignored it. He went to his room, towelled his hair, and then changed into dry clothes. Still ignoring the banging, he went up to the missile launcher on the upper deck. One after the other he fired three missiles, and then went to get his binoculars from the command room. He wished he had embedded some kryptonite into those missiles. He had meant to, but preparing the boat for the prisoners was first priority. The bloody imp could have done it with a snap of his fingers, but he had refused. He had said it "wasn't fun." Lex kicked the door frame. He wished he could kick the imp instead, but obviously that wouldn't have been necessary had the imp been there to be kicked in the first place.

Then again, it didn't really matter. There was enough kryptonite in that lifeboat to keep Superman disabled for a long time, even after a short exposure. With any luck, some of those sharp edges broke his thick skin. A rendezvous with a short-range missile could be just enough to get rid of him once and for all.

Limping on his sore toe, Lex climbed back upstairs, the binoculars in his hand. He reached the deck just in time to see the final missile blow the lifeboat to wonderfully tiny bits. He kept watching for a few more seconds, but saw no red cape rising from the high waves to the sky.

Lex didn't think he could be lucky enough to have actually killed Superman. He was seriously injured, maybe. And angry as hell. Superman had been quite fond of Lois, to put it mildly. It was safe to say that he would be upset about losing her. Or, not safe, actually. The danger was even greater since his own son had been there as well. But considering his gene-pool, it was possible that the boy wasn't dead. Yet. Maybe Superman was busy saving him now. With the boat sinking slowly but surely, it was a good thing the overgrown Boy Scout was out of commission. It was high time to leave.

Lex left the binoculars on the deck and went to get the morons who were still pounding on the prison chamber's door.

--------------------------------------------------------

Superman looked at Richard and Jason, holding on to each other against the rest of the world. He hated to come between the two, but he had no other choice. He could try to shake Dr Crispin's trembling figure off of him, and the doctor would probably be able to keep himself alive in the water. Actually, he did just that, leaving Dr Crispin to flail and shout, filling his mouth with seawater. But Lois needed support, and Superman wasn't able to provide her with one for much longer.

Holding Lois's head above the water, Superman carried her towards Richard and Jason.

"I'm sorry about the boat," Superman said, gently touching Richard's shoulder. "I didn't think I could take another explosion." His head sank under the waves for a moment. As he surfaced again, Richard had already let go of Jason and held his arms out for Lois.

"Thank you," Superman said, handing the woman he loved to her ex-fiance.

"What are we going to do now?" Jason asked. He wrapped one of his arms around himself, clearly missing the arms that had held him.

"I need a short while to recover," Superman said, "and then I can carry you to shore."

"Why?" Richard asked. "I mean, how is it that you took the explosion so hard while Jason came out without a scratch?"

Instead of giving him an answer, Superman turned his back to Richard and pulled his cape over his shoulder. A few green fragments stuck out of his back.

"Oh my god!" Richard breathed, and then, "Jason!"

Superman turned around quickly. He should have known better than to expose Jason to kryptonite, even from this distance. As he turned, Jason seemed to recover. Superman's dense molecular structure was a better shield than any layers of lead.

"Keep still," Richard said in a commanding voice. He circled around Superman, carrying Lois with him. Slowly, struggling to keep both himself and Lois above the water, he took the kryptonite fragments out of Superman's back one by one and let them drop deep into the water.

"Any more left?" Richard asked after several minutes of hard labour.

"None that you can reach," Superman said. "Thank you. I'm much better now. But I still need some sun before I can fly you safely."

Richard didn't seem to want to stay around him any more than he had to. The moment he left, Superman raised his face to the late morning sun and let its light wash over him. He was thankful it was a clear day. He didn't want to leave the others alone while searching for the healing rays over a layer of clouds. He wasn't even sure he would have been able to lift himself high enough in his current condition.

A few minutes passed in almost complete silence except for the soft paddling of Richard's and Jason's hands, and the wild splashing of Dr Crispin's. Then, something in the surrounding changed, starting Superman out of his rest. Lois's breathing. It became shallower.

Superman was at Richard's side in an instant.

There was worry in Richard's eyes as well. "I think she needs to get to a hospital," he said.

"I agree," Superman said. He began to X-Ray her again when two hands grabbed his arm.

"Take me out of here!" Dr Crispin wailed, wrapping his arms around Superman's neck.

"I will," Superman said. He turned to Richard. "We've done this before," he said, "only this time the trip will be a while longer. Do you think you can hold on to the both of them?"

"Yes," Richard answered curtly.

Superman held Richard under his armpits and waited for him to take a hold on Jason as well as tighten his grip around Lois. "Hold on tight to my waist," he told Dr Crispin, and then soared straight up.

Superman could see the coastline from the moment they were high enough. But it took over ten minutes before the others could see it as well. Dr Crispin displayed his enthusiasm by waving his arms and legs frantically, almost losing his grip on Superman. After that, he held on tight without moving a muscle until they touched down in front of the entrance to Metropolis General.

The long, slow flight took its toll on Superman. He wished he could just change into Clark and disappear into the background. But he couldn't. There were two pieces of kryptonite burning holes in his back, which had to be removed. There were many odd things about Clark that he always found a way to explain, but being hurt by kryptonite wasn't one of them. He managed to take a gurney out of a parked ambulance and help Richard lower Lois onto it before collapsing on the hard concrete floor.

--------------------------------------------------------

The first thing Lois saw when she opened her eyes was Richard's face peering down on her. Her mouth was dry as if she'd been eating sand for several days, and she felt sore all over. A tube was stuck in her arm, dripping a clear liquid into it, and she heard several beeping sounds that were giving her a severe headache.

Richard stood up hurriedly and pressed the call button for the nurse. "How are you feeling?" he asked. Lois could see Jason peeking up from behind his back. She felt an enormous relief at seeing him alive and well.

Lois tries to say _fine_, but the sand in her mouth choked the word down, and she coughed.

Richard poured a little water into a glass that stood on her nightstand and served it to her lips, supporting her head.

A nurse dashed into the room. She took one look around, and the expression on her face seemed disappointed.

"She shouldn't drink," the nurse said.

"Just a few drops," Richard said, putting the glass down. "She's parched."

"She's getting all the fluids she needs from this," the nurse said, pointing at the drip. "She shouldn't have anything in her stomach before she goes into surgery."

"Surgery?" Lois said. The little bit of water allowed her voice to return.

"To take the bullet out of your leg," Richard said softly. "The doctors wanted to stabilise you before taking it out. They said it wasn't urgent."

Lois put a hand over her eyes. Her headache was getting worse. She didn't like the idea of going into surgery. That would probably mean she'd have to stay in the hospital for at least several days. Several days longer than she wished.

"What's with all this beeping?" she asked, trying to blame her headache on the annoying sound. "I'm obviously fine. You don't need to monitor my heartbeat."

"This beat is much too slow for a human patient," the nurse said, looking grimly behind her. "It's not your heart we're monitoring. It's Superman's. We would have obviously given him a private room, but we thought he wouldn't mind sharing a room with you."

"Superman!" Lois said. She sat bolt upright, regretting the sharp movement immediately. The piercing headache had nothing to do with the beeping this time. Or maybe it had. She didn't want to believe Superman was in the hospital again, in a coma. "What happened?" she asked.

Jason seemed torn between the two beds. One held his mother, who was much better, while the other had the unconscious man he couldn't let anyone know was his father. Finally, he sat down on the armchair between the two beds, cradling Superman's suit on his lap.

"Things are better than they seem," the nurse said, trying to ease Lois back into bed. "This time his heart beat strong and steady throughout the entire procedure. We think he's just deep in sleep, recovering from his injuries."

"Luthor's bullet," Lois said, her voice filled with hate.

"No," Richard said. "That one, Superman took out on his own. It was Luthor's boat full of sharp kryptonite crystals. He fell on them when we went to get you and Jason, and several sharp edges broke into his back. Don't worry. They didn't cut deep. I think it was just the prolonged exposure combined with the effort of carrying four people to the hospital that exhausted his powers. I'm sure he'll recover soon." His voice wasn't too enthusiastic. "By the way, I think you'll need to get a new toothbrush."

The nurse checked on the electrodes that were connected to Superman's chest and then moved over to the door. "I'll let the surgeon know you're awake," she said. Looking back at Superman, she added, "Please let me know if there's any change." Then she left, closing the door behind her.

Lois considered walking over to stand by Superman's bed, but even _she_ knew her injured leg wouldn't support her, and she was definitely in no condition to hop over on one leg. She rested her head back on the pillows and motioned Jason to come over. When Jason was nestled by her side, she looked at Richard again. "Tell me what happened," she said.

--------------------------------------------------------

Richard considered how much he should tell Lois. He didn't want her to know they all risked their lives to save her and Jason, but she was an investigative reporter. She was bound to find out sooner or later. Eventually he gave her a full account of what happened from the time he called her apartment and got not answer, leaving out only one detail. Instead, he said that the second of the three missiles had missed them.

"It didn't miss," Jason said, giving his father a puzzled look. "I caught it."

Lois seemed lost for words. She just opened her eyes widely and looked anxiously at Richard.

Richard sighed, his shoulders sinking. "I already know," he said. "I realised it when I saw the effect kryptonite had on Jason. I just wish you'd have told me sooner." He didn't want to pick up a fight now, and this was definitely fight material, but he couldn't hold back the remark.

"I'm sorry, Richard," Lois said. "I only found out a couple of months ago, and I was building up the courage to tell you. Of course you had a right to know."

"A couple of months ago?" Richard said, standing up angrily. "How could you have found out about it only _a couple of months_ ago? You had to be pregnant when we started dating. Superman was gone for weeks before that." He paused for a moment and frowned. "How could he be Jason's father, anyway? Jason was born nearly ten months after we started dating. Was Superman still around when everyone thought he was gone? Just popping out of his hiding place to sleep with you?"

"Richard!" Lois cried, covering Jason's ears with her hands.

Richard sat down again. "I'm sorry, Lois. I didn't want to have this talk now. We can talk about it after you get better." He bit his lower lip.

"I'd rather tell you now," Lois said. "The last time I saw Superman was on television, when he helped rebuild the white house. I haven't seen him for five years after that. And Jason – this is why even I didn't think he was Superman's. I think that Kryptonian pregnancies must be longer than nine months. I probably carried Jason for eleven months or so, without realising it."

"You never even told me you've been with Superman," Richard said. His voice sounded more bitter than angry.

"I didn't know," Lois said sadly. Then she seemed to realise what she'd said and her hand flew to her mouth.

"What do you mean?" Richard demanded.

"I mean, I don't remember it," Lois said, trying to cover her slip of tongue. "I probably hit my head or something when Zod snatched me, because I've lost several days worth of memories. It must have happened then."

"You didn't hit your head," Richard said. He felt the anger rise inside him again. "_He_ took your memories." He looked over at Superman. "He didn't want you to know you were carrying his child."

Richard got up and walked over to Superman's bed, feeling his rage growing with every step he took. "This is what you fell in love with?" he yelled, pointing at the unmoving figure. Unable to control himself, he began to tear the electrodes off of Superman's chest.

"Don't!" Lois cried out. "He didn't know either. He told me so, and I believe him!"

Richard tore off the second electrode. Lois's words only made him angrier. How gullible was she? Not gullible at all, usually. But when it came to him… He tore off another electrode. A strong hand in hospital pyjamas stopped him before he reached to the fourth. Superman opened his eyes, and then used his free hand to remove the rest of the instruments holding him down. Without a word he stood up and walked to the chair that held his suit. In a blur of colour he was wearing his familiar garment again, while his hospital clothes were neatly folded on the seat of the armchair.

When the medical team rushed into the room, Superman was already gone. The only sounds were the alarm of the deserted heart-monitor and the rattling of the shades hanging over the window.

**A/N 3:** Well, this was slightly shorter than what you're used to getting from me, but I allowed myself to assume you'd rather have this now than wait until I have the time to write more. You should know that the only reason I sat down to write a chapter now (gave it two nights, from 2 AM to 5 AM) was the reviews I got for the previous chapters. Had there been no reviews, I probably would have waited until I had more free time. So, you get the hint. You want another chapter, review! Oh, and if you're not that interested, don't review. This way I'll know I'm not letting anyone down, and I'll use my nights for sleep :).


	13. Chapter 13: Favours unexpected

**A/N:** Ok, I've heard of being strung for time, but this is ridiculous. To any of you who have been waiting for a new chapter – I'm sorry. And to those of you who've just joined in – bless your good fortune. I promise, short of a major disaster, you're not going to have to wait more than six weeks between instalments until this story is finished. This will happen in 3-5 chapters (3 if my characters behave themselves, and 5 if they start wrecking havoc with my plot, like theffy usually do). If you want to make the wait shorter, review. One of the reasons I didn't bother was the fact that so few of you seemed to care one way or another. Well, you've certainly waited long enough. Let's get on with this story. Oh – one last thing. I'm in dire need of a beta. Anyone around here willing to pitch in?

**Where we left off:**

Lex Luthor, following Lois's lead, assumed Superman's secret identity ifs none other than Dr Piers Crispin – Jason's arrogant doctor. To put pressure on him to leave town (or rather, leave the planet), Lex snatched Lois and Jason, Injuring Lois in the process. He did get Dr Crispin to leave town, however, Superman caught up with him, and with the help of Richard White they got Lois and Jason back to Metropolis. As the previous chapter ended, Lois was still in hospital, waiting for surgery to remove the bullet Luthor had left in her leg. Luthor himself is well and happy, thank you for asking.

**Chapter 13****: Favours unexpected**

Clark stopped in front of the door to Lois' hospital room, and then pushed it open hesitantly. Usually, his mild manner was only a facade: an act designed to hide his ever-confident alter-ego. But this time neither Clark nor his alter-ego felt very confident. He had overheard Lois and Richard fight over Jason's Paternity. He hated putting Lois in this position. He hated seeing Jason cringe as the two of them yelled at each other. He even hated what it did to Richard. Richard was a good man. He didn't deserve this heartache. But most of all, he hated leaving Lois to fight his battles for him. However, the alternative was even worse. If he'd stayed as Superman, Richard might have lost control completely, and this wouldn't have helped any of them.

So he was forced to come back as Clark, and pretend not to be aware of any of the events that had taken place in the room only moments before. This was the best choice for his loved ones, but it was the most painful for him. Hiding away from a fight has never been his way.

Clark peeked through the slightly ajar door. As he well knew even before reaching the right floor, Richard was gone. Lois' surgery had been postponed due to unexpected emergencies jamming the operating rooms, and she was sitting up in bed, a hospital lunch tray in front of her. She was feeding whatever goo was on it to Jason, who was sitting on the bed next to her, his back to the door.

Clark didn't go in immediately. Instead, he let the door slide back on its hinges, and was gone. A second later, before the door had time to shut, he was back, this time with a paper bag stuffed full of sandwiches.

Pretending to bump into the door, Clark opened it again, and clumsily pushed his way in. Lois' expression was a mixture of amusement and pity. Jason just looked slightly puzzled.

'I've brought you something to eat,' Clark said, allowing the bottom of the paper bag to tear, spilling its contents onto the bed. He had calculated the angle of the spill in advance, so none of the sandwiches would go anywhere near Lois' injured leg. 'I'm s-sorry,' he mumbled hastily, and began picking up the well-wrapped sandwiches.

Lois began to laugh, and Jason joined her, good-heartedly.

'Er… smoked Tofu with avocado and sprouts?' Clark asked, handing Lois the sandwich he had just picked up. A few more remained on the bed.

'Great!' Lois said, shining. She flung the lunch tray onto the nightstand and immediately dug into the sandwich.

'Hey! I was eating that!' Jason said.

'I think you might like this one better,' Clark said, handing Jason a wrapped sandwich.

'Chocolate?' Jason asked. He looked hopefully at his mother.

He had said it too quickly, without even beginning to unwrap the sandwich. He had obviously used his X-Ray vision to examine the contents of the sandwich. Clark would have to work with him on better hiding his abilities, but not now. Not when he was out of his Superman suit. Clark didn't even have it under his clothes, like he used to, before finding out that Jason had inherited his ability to look through things. Things like woollen suits. These days he was carrying it around it a lead lined compartment in his briefcase, which meant he had to give up on the habit of spilling out the contents of the case occasionally, just to prove he was clumsy.

'Oh, Clark,' Lois looked at him reproachfully. 'I'm sorry, Jason isn't allowed…'

'It's carob chocolate,' Clark cut her off.

'Oh,' Lois said. She signalled Jason to go ahead, which he immediately did.

'Where did you get it?' Lois asked, gaping at him.

'I had s- some at home,' Clark said, which was the absolute truth. He had kept a stock at home, along with a selection of Lois' favourite organic foods, hoping against hope that he would one day have them over for dinner. In the single second he had had between deciding to go get Lois and Jason something decent to eat and returning to the hospital with the food, Clark couldn't go shopping, and he certainly didn't have time to order anything from a restaurant. So he went home and made them the best sandwiches he could think up.

'This is great,' Lois said, shoving the last piece of her sandwich into her mouth. 'What else did you bring?' she picked up a sandwich at random.

'Gee, Lois. You're really h- hungry,' Clark said. He pretended to take a better look at what she was holding, using the opportunity to trip on one of her slippers and drop the sandwiches he'd gathered back on top of the bed. 'This one has a mixture of herbs and ground seeds with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. It has lots of iron. G- good for regenerating the blood and… er… something to do with the heart.' Of course, Clark could name each and every one of the active chemical ingredients in those herbs, and exactly how each of them affected the body. If he stretched his own tenuous limits, he could even watch the molecules reach their target organs and work their wonders there. But it wasn't like Superman to show off his knowledge, and it certainly wasn't like Clark.

Lois sniffed at the unwrapped sandwich suspiciously. 'Garlic?' she asked.

'The taste is worth smelling of garlic afterwards,' Clark said, smiling.

Lois took a bite and her eyes grew wide. 'This is incredible!' she said. 'Where did you learn how to make this?'

'I met this herbalist when I was travelling,' Clark said, not going into details. He hoped Lois would assume he meant the travelling he'd supposedly done during the five years he'd spent on the way to Krypton and back. He had indeed learned this recipe from an old herbalist, but it had been years before he'd joined the Planet. Before he'd assumed the role of Superman.

'You haven't told me about your travels yet,' Lois said with her mouth full. She stopped chewing for a moment and looked at him intently. 'Tell me about the places you've seen.'

Clark was about to tell her about an African village he hadn't visited for at least seven years, when the sound of a distant explosion cut off his train of thought. He hesitated a moment, and then got up.

'What are you waiting for?' Lois said. 'Go! Get the story. It's bad enough one of us is stuck in here.

Clark didn't need any more persuasion. He picked up his briefcase and rushed out of the room, not even stopping to say goodbye to Jason. He ran down the staircase, barely managing to limit himself to human, yet not very Clark-like speed. Once in the basement and out of Jason's special field of view, he took his caped suit out of its special compartment in his briefcase, and changed.

--------------------------------------------------------

The orange and purple clad imp was hovering in the clear afternoon skies a thousand feet above the centre of the new fire, in the middle of an abandoned industrial building. 'Here to put out the fire again, Superman?' he said as Superman appeared next to him.

'Here to start another one?' Superman retorted.

'Thanks for your advice, Superman,' Mxyzptlk said. 'Good thing the 'M' is symmetric, or I would have had to start over again. See? I've already got the mirror images of the 'x' and the 'y' written. Now, to finish the 'z'.' He disappeared, and another fire erupted two hundred feet away from the first, in the middle of the Metropolis theatre's parking lot.

Superman knew there was no point in flying there. If the imp was scorching the letter 'z' over the face of the city, then the next fire would be… Too late. The fire had already erupted where Superman had calculated it should be. He tore through the sky to the next calculated location, and found exactly what he had dreaded to find. The imp was already there, ready to set off another explosion.

'Will you cut it out!' Superman said.

'Why?' the imp said, zooming once around him. He settled in front of Superman, his feet high in the air, hanging upside-down. His hat didn't seem to mind the gravity, which should have pulled it off the imp's head and towards the ground.

'Because you're hurting people,' Clark said.

'But it's so funny!' the imp said, snickering.

"I don't see anyone laughing,' Superman said. Then, he had an idea. 'You know what would really be funny?' he said, trying to look amused, even though he was nowhere near that emotion.

'What? What would be funny?' The imp asked, enthusiastic as a puppy teased with a bone.

'Lois Lane is about to go into surgery, to take a bullet out of her leg,' Superman began.

'You're right, that is sort of funny,' the imps said, but he looked like he was losing interest.

'That's not the funny part,' Superman said. 'Imagine her doctors getting ready to operate and discovering that the bullet had disappeared on its own. In fact, imagine all the patients at the hospital suddenly getting up, completely healthy. That would drive the medical teams nuts.'

'Don't push it,' Mxyzptlk said. 'But Lois, that _is_ hilarious. They'll be completely baffled. I think I'll pay her a visit.'

Superman was getting ready to sore after him when the imp stopped in mid-air, producing a sound like screeching car-breaks. 'Oops, almost forgot,' he said, snickering. A seven-story office building collapsed beneath him in an explosion that shook the city. The flames rising from the remains of the building reached as high as twenty feet into the air. With that last feat, the imp was gone.

Superman had no time for frustration. He dove into the flames to try and get as many of the employees as possible out of the collapsed building before they burn to death.

Even with his tremendous efforts, the toll was high. Fourteen dead, nearly two hundred injured, twelve of which in critical condition. Once the flames ebbed down enough for the fire-fighters to have them under control, Superman flew the remaining ambulances to the hospital, two at a time.

Three explosions. Superman didn't consider Metropolis lucky. Especially not with the devastating results of the last one. Still, three fires were a lot less than the previous imp's attacks. Superman wondered why he'd stopped when he did. More importantly, he wondered if he could repeat the conditions that made the imp stop. He doubted it was his idea about pulling a hoax on Lois' doctors that had done the trick.

--------------------------------------------------------

'You called' Mxyzptlk said, hovering over Luthor's empty desk.

Lex Luthor slammed his fist on the desk, where his brand-new inter-dimensional manipulator had been only a moment before.

'You really need to stop making those,' Mxyzptlk said. 'You know I'll just keep popping them out of existence.'

'The next one I build will be used to banish _you_ out of existence,' Luthor said. 'Don't mess with me.'

The imp zoomed once around Luthor's head. 'You can't banish me,' he said. 'Only one way to do that: make me spell my own name backwards, and fat chance this is going to happen. In fact, my name will appear on all of Metropolis maps from now till all eternity.'

'Why?' Luthor asked. It was one of the rare occasions when he really was puzzled.

'Because I'm writing it myself, that's why,' Mxyzptlk said. He turned the empty desk into a tiny model of Metropolis, and then set fire to the respective places on the model where he'd burned holes in the face of the city. The mirror images of the letters 'z', 'y', 'x', and 'M' appeared in the flames.

Luthor frowned. 'This is spelled backwards,' he said quietly.

'No, it's not,' the imp said, annoyed. 'It's a mirror image, so that the letters appear properly on the maps.'

'Maps are not mirror images,' Luthor said. Understanding was beginning to dawn on him. 'Who told you they were mirror images?'

'Superman!' Mxyzptlk said. He stomped the flames until the entire model was reduced to rubble. Then, he turned the fragments into seeds and conjured a large chicken that pecked them. When all the seeds were gone, he tried to stomp the chicken as well, but it ran away from him, flapping its wings and screaming.

Luthor smirked. The fact that Superman had managed to outsmart the imp was bad news, but he couldn't avoid thinking that it only proved the boy-scout to be a worthy opponent to his own wits. The chicken was now trying to find cover under his chair. Luthor put his feet up and closed his eyes, trying to block out the noise. 'You'll be happy to know that dear Supes will be out of commission, at least for a while.'

'No he won't,' the imp said. 'I just left him here.' The chicken disappeared with a soft 'pop' sound, and the Metropolis model reappeared. Mxyzptlk pointed at a tiny Superman image that was plunging itself into the flames at the edge of the burning 'z'.

'Damn,' Luthor said. 'I thought he would need more time to recuperate. We don't have any leverage over him, except for snatching Lois and her boy again, and that's getting old. He's not Crispin, you know.'

'I know,' Mxyzptlk said.

'You do?' Luthor said. 'How? You weren't there when Crispin came aboard the kryptonite filled boat.'

'So what?' Mxyzptlk said, flipping twice in the air. 'I know everything.'

'So why did you let me go after Crispin?' Luthor asked.

'It was funny,' the imp said.

'But you knew all along that he wasn't Superman?' Luthor said, standing up. He watched the imp nod happily and went on. 'And you know who Superman really is?' Another nod. 'Tell me!'

'Nope.'

'Why the hell not?' Luthor said

'Because that wouldn't be funny,' Mxyzptlk said. 'Why would I want to spoil the fun?'

Now it was Luthor's turn to stomp the model Metropolis, capturing the tiny Superman under the sole of his shoe. A second later, with a faint 'pop', he found himself sitting on top of his desk, a hysterical chicken in his lap, watching the imp disappear.

--------------------------------------------------------

When the last ambulance was parked by the doors to the hospital's emergency room, Superman flew to Lois' window. He considered changing into Clark first, but the news he'd brought were much better explained if he remained Superman. In addition, Clark could never explain how he'd reached the hospital so quickly after supposedly interviewing witnesses at the scenes of the three explosions.

'Superman,' Lois said, sitting up in her bed. She pulled the sheets up to her chest and then reconsidered it and let them drop. 'I was hoping you'd come.'

'I can see that,' Superman said. 'You shouldn't leave the windows open. It's getting chilly.' He turned away from her and shut the window that allowed him to get in. turning back to her, he asked: 'How are you feeling?'

'Good, I think,' Lois said. 'Although, it could be a bad sign. I can't feel the pain from the bullet in my leg any more.'

Superman X-Rayed her leg to make sure before he spoke. 'That's because there's no bullet in your leg anymore,' he said.

'What?' Lois said. 'How is that possible?'

A soft 'pop' announced the appearance of another visitor in the room. Like Superman, the little imp hovered in mid air, but unlike Superman, he didn't keep his distance from Lois. 'No fair!' Mxyzptlk said. 'Now you've spoiled the surprise. Maybe I should put the bullet back in there.'

'I'm surprised! I'm surprised!' Lois said quickly. She pulled the sheets up again to cover herself. 'Who are you?' she asked.

'Let me introduce you to Mr Mxyzptlk,' Superman said. 'The magical creature Dr Crispin talked about. Actually, he's not magical at all. He's here from the fifth dimension. He's the one responsible for removing the bullet from your leg, among other things.'

'Other things?' Lois asked. She could feel the reporter roaring inside her.

'The explosions and fires of the last few days, for instance,' Superman said. 'Apparently, he's trying to burn his name over the city.'

'Apparently, in reverse order,' Mxyzptlk said, hovering closer to Superman and wagging his finger. 'Did you think I wouldn't find out you were trying to trick me?'

'I was hoping you wouldn't,' Superman said.

'Well, your trick didn't work,' Mxyzptlk said. 'I'll just have to start over. Too bad for the buildings that are in the way.'

'There are other ways to have your name written down in history,' Lois said, and then added, 'what trick?'

'But none as much fun,' Mxyzptlk said. 'I just love watching this one,' he pointed at Superman, 'buzzing around like a busy bee, trying to put out all the fires.' As he said the words, Superman's suit changed its colours to from red and blue to stripes of yellow and black.

'The only way to get rid of this nuisance is to make him spell his name backwards,' Superman said. 'Which is quite difficult since I can't even spell it forward.'

'That's easily solved,' Mxyzptlk said. 'The name is Mxyzptlk. That's M-x-y-z-p-t-l-k.' large letters appeared in fire over Lois' bed.

Superman moved closer, ready to blow out the letters if Mxyzptlk decided to go too far. 'That's too complicated,' he said. 'How can you spell this,' he motioned to the letters, 'backwards? Is that k-t-l-'

'No, no!' The imp cut him off impatiently. 'That's k-l-t-p-z- Oh! You nearly got me there. But it won't work this time. I'm not going away. Ever.' And with that, he disappeared.

Superman blew out the fire letters and then scanned Lois' leg, to make sure the imp didn't make good on his threat to return the bullet.

'I have an idea,' Lois said. 'We know Luthor got into my computer to get the information about Crispin. I'm willing to bet he had some fifth dimension help cracking my password. I'll change my password to kltpzyxm, so if they try again, we'll be rid of that creature. We can even draw them in to check my computer if we spread rumours that we're onto… ah…' She meant to say 'onto your real identity', but didn't want Superman to know she was still looking for it. 'Onto Luthor's location. He'd want to know what we know'

'That could work,' Superman said without enthusiasm, 'only it puts you in danger again. If Luthor thinks you're onto him, he'll try to kill you before you have a chance to tell anyone. Maybe you should hint that you have another lead on my identity out of this uniform.' He looked down at his black-and-yellow striped suit and shook his head. 'Out of my regular uniform, that is.'

Lois smiled in embarrassment. She could feel her cheeks burning red. 'I'm sorry,' she said boldly. 'But you know I won't give up on the idea.'

'You have to, Lois,' Superman said. 'One innocent man has already been hurt because of it. _You_ got hurt. And the last time you knew about me…' he trailed off.

'Go on,' Lois said angrily. 'I couldn't handle it? You've already said that. And I told you I could handle it now. Why don't you save us both the trouble and just tell me. I know you feel the same way about me as I feel about you. I could feel it in your kiss before Luthor took me away. You were hurt so badly you could barely move, and yet you put enough energy to boil an egg into that kiss.'

Superman backed away towards the window. 'I thought I might never see you again,' he said. 'I'm sorry I gave you the wrong impression.'

'No,' Lois said. 'You're sorry you gave me the _right_ impression. But you shouldn't be, and I'll prove it to you.'

Her last words drove him out of the room. Lois got up on her newly healed leg and shut the window. She doubted he would be back tonight.


End file.
